


The nicest angel you have

by Sanguine_tenshi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Bakugo Katsuki can’t feelings, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Female Harry Potter, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, James the Earth hopping wonder, Multi, children aren’t bound by such silly adult things as logic, how to keep your demon child busy, impossible also holds no meaning to them, no beta we die like men, no we don’t pls send help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22693270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanguine_tenshi/pseuds/Sanguine_tenshi
Summary: One-time Vernon locks her outside for the night, so the cold would teach the freak to be grateful. Harley sees a shooting star. She makes a wish because aunt Petunia told Dudley once that he should wish upon a shooting star if he really, really wanted something. She wishes for a friend, a best friend, someone to protect and listen to her. She asks God for the nicest angel he has because she needs someone nice. Instead she gets Bakugo Katsuki.
Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Female Harry Potter, Bakugou Katsuki/Harry Potter, Bakugou Masaru/Bakugou Mitsuki, Petunia Evans Dursley/Vernon Dursley
Comments: 38
Kudos: 396





	1. The nicest angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m mid first season and I have no clue what happens in year six, fight me!  
> I’ve read a few of these ‘meeting in a dream with someone’ fics. I really like them so I decided to make my own. Also, this was inspired a bit by that Lilo and Stitch meme, the title and pairing are gonna be enough for most of you to understand.  
> Some news at the end.

_‘I shouldn’t have said that.’_ It ran through Harley’s mind on repeat as she stared at the closed yard door of a small home in Surrey. She’d been frustrated, angry. There were spiders in the cupboard, she didn’t like spiders. It felt weird when they walked on her. Dudley’s room didn’t have spiders. She just wanted a room that didn’t have spiders and there was an empty room on the second floor. She just wanted to sleep without spiders walking all over her. Was that too much to ask? Instead Vernon pulled her by her arm and threw her outside into the backyard. She had heard the door lock click into place.

 _‘This will teach you to be grateful for what we give you, you little freak.’_ Her eyes stung and she felt tears coming. She couldn’t cry. Crying meant bad things would happen. She sat at the small step and buried her face in her knees. A sob escaped her throat and she quickly cowered her mouth with her hand. She sat there just listening. Listening for the doors unlocking, for Vernon’s barking voice, for a hand coming for her face.

But there was nothing, no noise at all. Maybe they couldn’t hear her. She hoped so. Better to be sure. Better to be far away if they could. She quickly got up and ran to the small shed at the back of the yard. She hid behind it among aunt Petunia’s rose bushes. The sobs were muffled behind her hand. She leaned her head back trying to make the tears stop, tried to make them go back.

That is when she saw it, a single shooting star.

_‘If you want something really, really badly, Dudleykins, you should ask a shooting star for it.’_

Aunt Petunia’s voice came to her. Something she wanted really, really badly. “I, I wi-wish for a friend,” she said slowly. “A best friend. Someone to listen to me and someone to talk to.” She bit her lip. She remembered looking at Dudley and his friends at the playground. “And someone to play with.” Vernon’s angry purplish face flashed before her eyes, his hand raised. “A-and someone to, to protect me.” A sob left her. “An angel.” That sounded like an angel to her. Someone kind and caring and protective and patient and playful and good. “Send me the nicest angel you have…please.”

.

Harley looked around, her eyes darted about quickly trying to take everything in. She was standing in a park, a park she didn’t recognize. There were also no people around her. She’d been by the shed, she was sure of it. And it had been night just a second ago, it was midday here, wherever here was. This was weird and scary. She didn’t like this at all.

“Hello!” She yelled out. No one answered. She was getting really scared now. Anyone would have been fine, even Dudley. She gripped the bottom of her shirt her knuckles turning white and her lip between her teeth. Maybe, maybe they just didn’t hear her, that had to be it. “Hello!” She yelled out louder.

“Oi!” A shout came from behind her. She turned around her eyes wide. Unsure of who she would see.

There stood a boy with a scowl set on his face. His red eyes glared at her. “Erm, hello?” She said unsure of herself, he looked mean. Immediately the boy yelled out something at her, she jumped slightly. It sounded like a bunch of garbled sounds with no rhyme or reason. “I, I don’t understand you.” His eyebrows drew together and he tilted his head in thought. It looked like he didn’t understand her either. Oh. That, that could be a problem.

There had to be a way for them to communicate. To at least find out each other’s names, aunt Petunia always said you had to introduce yourself. It was only polite. An idea came to her. She swallowed and put a hand to her chest. “Harley.” His scowl dropped and he looked thoughtful for a second. Then he pointed a finger at her.

“Hali.” He said. She frowned but nodded in the end, all the kids had a problem with her name, this was close enough for now. Then he pointed to himself. “Katsuki.”

“Kat-Kat...Katsu…su.” She tried her hardest. Well he shortened her name first, didn’t he. “Suki.” She finally said with a nod. He looked annoyed at that.

“Katsuki,” he repeated his name slowly, each letter passing between clenched teeth in a low hiss.

“Suki.” She answered with a shrug. His nose wiggled in distaste. It did sound a bit girly if she were honest, all the boys at her park wanted to be seen as tough. Dudley wanted to be seen as tough. And girly things weren’t exactly tough. He mumbled something at her again, something short she couldn’t understand. He let out a frustrated huff before grabbing her hand and pulling her along. They looked together around the park and found no one, so they expanded their search to the surrounding streets.

Suki seemed to know the area so she was perfectly alright with being pulled around by the blonde. But the longer their search went on the more scared they both became. Suki covers his fear with anger and annoyance. He shouted things at the houses, things that sound angry and insulting. But she could feel his hand shaking every time they turned a corner and the street was empty. She squeezed his hand to try and reassure him. His head snapped towards her, red eyes glaring. She tried to tell him that it was okay, through just her expression. That she was scared too, but they had each other and they would find someone and they would be fine. They _would_ be fine. His glare let up and he nodded. A smile overtook her face.

 _‘Wake up freak!’_ A shout startled her. It sounded distant, yet no less frightening. She dug her feet in, now truly scared. Vernon was angry at her. This wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. Suki looked at her in confusion. He hadn’t heard anything. He said something. A question probably, but no sound came from his mouth. She tried to say something anything, but before she could she was shaken awake. Suki’s worried face was replaced by Vernon’s purple, angry face. She flinched away, her back hitting the shed wall behind her. Something dug into her back uncomfortably.

“Get up you freak,” he said, much quieter that he normally would have. They were outside now, of course, the neighbors could hear. Can’t let the neighbors hear. “Get up and get inside, before one of those noisy bastards sees you,” he hissed at her. The sun had barely risen, she realized. It was early, she realized, really early, no one else would be awake now. No one would see her coming into the house. She scrambled up, the thorns catching on her clothes and skin. Vernon was already walking towards the house when she got up. She ran after him, he might just change his mind and leave her outside for the day if she was too slow.

She stumbled into the kitchen. Vernon was glaring down at her, his mustache moving as he grumbled something at her. “Get upstairs and clean yourself. And clean your clothes, you ungrateful freak.” His mustache moved as he muttered to himself. “Dirtying up the clothes we gave you.” He continued in a louder tone then. “Then you’ll help Pet make breakfast. Am I understood?” His words were harsh, but Harley just nodded quietly. He hadn’t raised his hand yet, he wasn’t so angry. She would like to keep it that way. She didn’t want to sleep outside again. “Good. Get going.” He snapped and she was out of the kitchen before he even finished. Trying to finish up in the bathroom as quickly as possible.

The warm water felt nice on her skin. She hadn’t realized how cold she had been until the scalding hot water hit her back. She had gasped loudly at the feeling. She scrubbed herself clean as quickly as she could. After she was done she took the dirty clothes and quickly scrubbed all the dirt stains. She scrubbed until there was no dirt on them before stuffing them into the washing machine. It wasn’t time for the white clothes to be washed, small miracles. Harley grabbed some clean clothes from her cupboard. All her clothes were in a cupboard in the bathroom, a small thing stuffed in a corner next to the toilet. There just wasn’t enough room under the stairs.

Once dressed she went back to the kitchen. Aunt Petunia was already there humming as watched something sizzle on the stove. Vernon was sitting at the table with a cup of strong tea and todays newspaper. “Harley, hand me the plates,” aunt Petunia ordered, her tone light, but there was no doubt it was an order and not a request. Unlike Vernon aunt Petunia never hit her, she never yelled at her and she was never mean. But the woman was dismissive of her. She looked at her niece like one would at a stray dog they were forced to take care of. Aunt Petunia was her favorite relative, even if it didn’t mean much.

It was while she was helping aunt Petunia make breakfast that she had remembered the blonde boy with red eyes. She wondered about him. Now it seemed obvious that she had been dreaming. But why had she dreamt up the boy? And the neighborhood they were in, she had never seen it before. It looked nothing like the neighborhood park aunt Petunia took her and Dudley to. And she couldn’t understand a word the boy had said. Why did she have such a weird dream?

 _‘Send me the nicest angel you have…please.’_ The words came back to her slowly and her eyes widened. Was Suki her angel? Did the shooting star make her wish come true? But…But that had been only one dream. She’d wished for a friend and a protector. How would Suki protect her if she saw him only in her dreams. And what if it had been a onetime thing only? What would she do then?

“Get to it girl.” Aunt Petunia snapped at her, tone harsh and annoyed, startling the living daylights out of Harley. She scrambled to get the plates to the table and almost fell in the process. Vernon would have hit her if she had dropped the plates, there was no doubt about it. Dudley was thundering down the stairs just as she set down the last plate.

She was given little food compared to what Vernon and Dudley ate. Aunt Petunia usually ate just a piece of buttered toast with her tea for breakfast. Still there was enough food for Harley to feel full at the end. Aunt Petunia watched her like a hawk as she ate. She was making sure Haley has eaten everything on her plate, always did, they weren’t going to be wasting food aunt Petunia had told her once.

She watched the three of them interact at the table and felt like an outsider looking in through a window. Dudley was saying something about an adventure and his friends and how high he had kicked the ball yesterday. Aunt Petunia called him Diddy and stroked his blond locks lovingly. Vernon’s mustache wiggled happily as he praised his son for some minor thing he had done.

There was a strong pang of jealousy and longing, it griped her heart and Harley couldn’t quite breath in properly. Her lungs felt constricted. She wanted to say she had kicked the ball higher than Dud, that she had out run him and his friends. She had wanted aunt Petunia to stroke her hair and to tell her how good she is. She swallowed heavily, the jealousy dropped down to her stomach where it felt like it was burning through her. She averted her eyes back to her plate.

Would she see Suki again? Would he care?

.

Katsuki looked around himself. He knew this park like the back of his hand, but usually there were people around, now there was no one. It was just him. He frowned. This was the second time this had happened. Except there had been a red headed girl around last time, a girl with startling green eyes and baggy boy clothes. He didn’t wish to admit it, but last time he had been scared. There had been no one there, not even the old hag and she was always around. Always. And the kid kept talking weirdly, he couldn’t understand shit.

He knew he was dreaming this time. He remembered going to bed, remembered lying in bed and thinking about playing with his friends tomorrow. Then he had appeared here. So where was the redhead. Last night he had found her by the swings, so maybe. He was already walking there without really thinking about it. He wasn’t used to being alone, usually he was the center of attention, the leader. He was the best after all. But now there was no one around and it was scary. There was no gravel crunching under sneakers as his friends scrambled to follow. Just silence. He hurried his steps and hoped the girl was there. He didn’t want to be alone, dream or not.

She was. Her head was turning around as she looked at the park. Her movements weren’t as jittery as yesterday. She was not scared. He wondered at that. Why wasn’t she scared of being all alone? Was she expecting him to show up again?

“Hali,” he called at her. Her head turned to him. Eyes the color of poison blinked for a moment before a giant smile overtook her face as she recognized him. “Suki!” she called back happily. He was startled a little at that, she was so happy, so happy to see him. Not even Izuku was that happy to see him and Izuku adored him, worshiped him almost. He was almost as good as All Might in Izuku’s mind. He had known Izuku since forever and yet the girl he had known for only one dream was so much happier to see him. He liked her already. She already knew how awesome he was.

He gave her a confident grin, a grin that showed all his teeth. Hali ran towards him and she was surprisingly quick for such a small slim thing. She pulled at his hand and garbled something at him happily. He glared at her in annoyance, she couldn’t have forgotten already. “I can’t understand you, dummy.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in an o shape before her brows drew together in thought. Suddenly the grin was back and her eyes sparkled. She poked him in the cheek, said something short, before she ran away. His wide eyes followed her in confusion as she ran away. What was she up to? She got quite far away when she turned around and poked her tongue out at him. That was a challenge if he ever saw one. His grin was only slightly bloodthirsty, he swears. It was a challenge he planned on winning.

With a roar he was running after her. Hali let out a squeak before running away. They were both grinning. In the end he barely caught her and only because she had tried jumping over the swing and had tripped, her foot caught on the wooden seat. She hadn’t fallen but it had slowed her down enough for him to catch up and tackle her to the ground. They were both on the ground panting hard and grinning at each other. Hm, he would have to get faster. He doubted she would trip like that a second time. And he was the best, couldn’t have this slip of a thing faster than him.

That is how the rest of the dream went. The two of them ran around and played, issuing small challenges to each other. Katsuki was better at ball juggling but Hali managed to get up to four kicks after trying it only a few times. Hali was a quick and nimble climber, but Katsuki was stubborn enough to follow her as high as she would go. Katsuki was better at skipping stones, but Hali wasn’t entirely hopeless either. They communicated the best they could through gestures and facial expressions and wild hand movements. It was one of the best experiences either of them had.

And then, one moment Katsuki was staring at Hali’s grinning face as she waved wildly at the swings and the next he was looking at the soft brown eyes of his dad. He blinked in confusion, this was very disorienting. “Come on Katsuki, time to wake up.” He blinked up at the man, confused, brain still not adjusted at the sudden shift of reality. “Brush your teeth and get downstairs, breakfast is almost ready.” Dad gave him a soft smile before leaving the room. Katsuki sat up in bed and looked after the man. That was the second time he had dreamt about Hali.

And then the words registered in his brain. He barely kicked the blanket off his feat as he scrambled to get up. It was pancake day, mom promised last night. He had to get downstairs before old man ate them all! And he would if given the chance. He ran from his room, his feet sliding slightly on the shiny wood in the hallway. The dream and Hali were far away from his mind.

It was only later on in the day that he remembered Hali again. He was with his friends at the park and he was showing off how awesome he was at ball juggling. He managed to get up to twelve this time, a new personal record, and the other three gushed at his awesome self, Izuku especially. It was while he was looking at Izuku’s amazed face that Hali came to his mind.

Hali reminded him somewhat of Izuku, she too was small and thin and somewhat timid. At times she had seemed like she was afraid of something. But as soon as he had showed some skill of his off she took it as a challenge, her fears forgotten. There had been a sharpness to her eyes at that moment, a competitive edge that poked right at his own. Was Izuku the same? Timidness that hid a competitive spirit and a will to be the best? Izuku had always said that he would become a hero, a number one hero. You had to be competitive to become number one. You just had to. There were so many losers trying to be number one. You couldn’t just let them walk all over you. No one was going to just hand the title to you either, you needed to have the drive and skill to get it yourself. To snag it in front of everyone’s noses. You would have to claw at others to get to the title.

“Why don’t you try it?” He asked Izuku, his hand holding the ball towards the greenhaired boy. It was a test. Izuku’s eyes sparkled and he took the ball. He tried it for the first time and his foot had completely missed the ball. The other two laughed at his attempt and Katsuki grinned smugly, just as he expected. Hali had done the same the first time she tried it. He expected Izuku to scoff at the ball and try again, his pride hurt but still willing to be better. He expected Izuku to be just a bit angry at his failure. Katsuki was wrong, he didn’t like being wrong. Instead the boy had grabbed at the edge of his shirt and looked down at his sneakers and Katsuki could see tears gathering in his eyes. He felt…disappointed.

He shrugged it off. Maybe Izuku just wasn’t good with the ball. It wasn’t Katsuki’s favorite either. They need to try something different. Katsuki couldn’t have been wrong about Izuku, he was never wrong, he refused to be. Hali had been good with the monkey bars, he remembered. She could swing herself upside down and hang on with just her legs while poking her tongue out at him in challenge. Maybe Izuku would be good at the monkey bars too.

Katsuki managed to get across no problem, he wasn’t sure he could hang upside down like Hali. He was not sure how she had done it. So, he wasn’t willing to embarrass himself like that. He would watch closely what she did next dream and would just copy her. Easy. The fat one could barely make it up to the top bars, his arms were too weak, while the other one with big teeth could make it just to the middle before his hands just slipped off. And Izuku, Izuku was too afraid to even climb all the way to the top. And again Hali, came to his mind. She’d climbed a tree as good as any monkey would have when their ball got stuck in one of the branches and had thrown the ball down at him. There had been no fear in her expression and the tree had been so much higher. Disappointment mixed with something else, something scalding, churned in his stomach again as he watched Izuku cling to the fourth bar, his knees shaking and his eyes filled with tears. He’d been wrong again.

.

It was only the third dream and this time Hali showed up with a giant cotton bandage around her left arm all the way up to her elbow. She was grinning happily at him, but his eyes were glued to the bandage. He was pretty sure he could see some sort of discoloration on the bandage. It looked yellowish and he wondered what kind of wound she had under there. Why was it yellow? Blood was red, he was sure of it. It had been red the one time he scraped his knee. She was in front of him now, babbling something or other in that language of hers he couldn’t understand. Katsuki grabbed her around the wrist, right where the bandage ended.

“What is this? What happened?” He asked, no demanded, he needed to know. Had she fallen and scraped her whole arm? Had it been something else? Red met green and he saw her expression fall. Her eyes were dull and glassy. She mumbled something at him again and frustration bubbled to the surface. He was not okay with it anymore. He was not okay with not understanding her words. He snarled, pivoted on his heel and dragged her along.

She was saying something. It was a question he was fairly certain. Her voice had that small tilt he was starting to recognize. “To my house,” he answered. He knew she couldn’t understand, hell maybe that hadn’t even been the question. But it felt better to try and explain. He knew the path between his house and the park very well. They were at the front door sooner than he expected, it felt like they skipped a part of the path. Katsuki put it out of his mind, it wasn’t important now. He was barging through the front door. Hali hesitated at the door and he had to pull harder on her wrist to get her moving again.

He led her up to his room. Once there he dropped her wrist and started searching the boxes next to his desk. He was sure the cards were somewhere in there. He had seen them just a few days ago, he was sure of it. A quick winning yell left him when he found them. He turned around towards Hali. She wasn’t looking at him. Instead she was looking around the room, her fingers hesitated over a few things, All Might toys and a few books. It was almost as if she was too afraid to touch anything.

“Hali,” he called and she turned around her eyes wide. He waved the cards in front of her, a happy grin on his face. “Come on.” He tugged her hand towards the bed. She followed her brows drawn together in confusion. Once they were both sitting on the bed facing each other did Katsuki decide to reveal his master plan. He picked a card, looked at it for a moment before showing it to her.

 _“_ Inu.” He told her. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Inu.” He repeated, more forcefully this time. His stare pointed. He wanted her to repeat after him. She was confused for only a moment longer, before there was an answering grin.

“Inu.” She parroted back and now they were both grinning like loons. Hali grabbed the card from his hand before turning it back at him. _“Dog.”_ Hali told him and it was his turn to blink in confusion. _“Dog.”_ She repeated in that same forceful tone he had used and he understood. It felt like she was challenging him again.

 _“Dog.”_ He repeated cheerfully, some smugness bleeding into his voice. He was going to win this.

Cards got picked up quickly, one after the other. Both of them struggled with some sounds but it never took them more than four tries to get the words right. Neither wanted to lose. Neko was cat. Car was kuruma. Josei was woman. Flower was hana. And so on it went until they were out of cards. They were both glaring at the cards, there was no clear winner and they were out. Then Hali grabbed at one of the cards, looked at it for a moment before grinning and showing it to him.

“Neko.” She said and he understood immediately. _“Cat.”_ He said right away she huffed at him in frustration, her plan foiled. The card started a new pile between them. And now they were going through the pile again. Every time Hali didn’t know the word it went into his pile and Katsuki smugly turned his nose up and Hali huffed at him, her brows together. Every time he didn’t know a word it went into Hali’s pile and she poked her tongue at him while he glared, his teeth grinding against each other.

And just as they were about to count their cards he woke up to dad’s happy face. He glared at the old man. He was sure he had won that one!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that would be it for the chapter. So, what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Horrible? I should just give up writing altogether? Do tell me in a review…or a pm I don’t care.
> 
>  **Hiatus and updates:** So, I’m officially off hiatus. And what do I do? I publish a new story instead of updating. Ops? Anyway, I will be posting five chapters before switching to a different story. I have a rough outline of this story all the way up to the HP first year. I also have a ton of shit to decide on. Mostly the direction I wanna take this story in. If I can’t decide I will be asking for your opinions, so there is that.
> 
>  **The Japanese:** I don’t know Japanese and this is the last time I will probably use it other than in honorifics. I used Google translate for the few words I did use, and since we all know how great Google translate is do feel free if I mistranslated a word.
> 
> See ya in the next one.


	2. Purple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I have about 400 hundred words of quick notes on the plot line of this story. My notes are a shitshow lets just get that out of the way. Let’s do this.

They had been meeting up in dreams for a few months now. Both of them had realized this wasn’t going to just stop for no reason. Hali would often appear with some kind of injury, too often in Katsuki’s opinion. Either his friend was very accident prone in real life or something else was going on, something bad. His gut clenched.

So far, she had shown up once with many small scratches and through her broken Japanese he gathered she somehow fell into the rose bushes. The first injury she had shown up with had been a giant burn across her arm, an accident with boiling water she had said. One time she had apparently broken a glass and had shown up with a giant slash across her palm, there had been stiches. And one time she showed up limping, she’d insisted that she had just landed funny and her ankle hurt. Thankfully all her injuries healed quickly, leaving only small scars behind. Every time she would smile brightly at him and insist that it was nothing. That he shouldn’t worry about it and hey could he show her that ball trick again. It was so awesome and she really wanted to learn it.

This time she showed up with a giant purple bruise across her jaw.

He was done with ignoring it.

“What happened?” he demanded as his fingers traced around the purple skin.

“Nothing,” she insisted, a wide smile pulling on her lips and the bruise. “Tangled feet, I fall. It nothing,” she explained in that accented broken Japanese of hers. He saw her wince when his fingers trailed too close. Katsuki’s eyes narrowed, red irises flashing angrily.

“No,” he insisted. Hali was startled at that. He usually just glared, but let it slide. Not this time. “Tell me what the fuck happened.” Hali’s eyes were avoiding his. His fingers clenched on her jaw, avoiding the bruise, as he tilted her whole head up and tried to make eye contact. Green avoided red.

“I tell you, I fall,” she insisted with a huff, as if she was annoyed. As if he was being silly. But her eyes were looking over his shoulder. She couldn’t look him in the eye.

“No,” he said slowly, firmly. “Tell me the truth.” Her feet shifted, smile dropped, expression worried.

“Noth-“ he growled at her, eyes getting narrower, fingers twitching on her jaw. Her eyes dropped to the ground. There was a stubborn set to her brow, so Katsuki crossed his arms over his chest and glared her down. He was the more stubborn of the two and he was going to get his answers and he was going to get them now. He could wait her out. Hali kept shifting on her feet. He just continued to stare her down.

They stood there for what felt like hours until Hali’s shoulders dropped, her head leaning further down. “Dudley,” she mumbled lowly so he could barely hear her. Brows drew together.

“Eh?!” He exclaimed loudly. Her shoulders tensed but she was still looking at the ground.

“Dudley did it,” she repeated, louder this time.

“What the fuck is dudley?” he asked her. Never before had she mentioned a dudley.

“Me cousin,” she explained. Katsuki’s arms dropped and he frowned. This didn’t make much sense. He and Hali wrestled every once in a while. She was tough and squirmy, never giving him time to pin her down. Hali just taking a punch from her cousin and not giving a worse one back didn’t make any sense. She wasn’t like that, she wasn’t someone who would just take a punch quietly. He glanced at her knuckles where they were curled around the edge of her too large shirt. No gashes. It made no sense, not unless her cousin was much bigger than her. If he could hold her down, or if he was simply too tall.

“He’s older?” He asked, head tilted as he searched her whole figure for any other injuries. Green eyes snapped to him. Finally. The purple clashed horribly with the green. Katsuki glared at the bruise as if that would make it go away. Make it disappear.

She thought for a second before holding up one finger. “Month.” Just one month then. He frowned at her.

“Then fight back, you dummy.” Her cousin should be worse off than her. She wasn’t weak. Hali wasn’t weak, his friend wasn’t weak. Her eyes turned to the side and she mumbled something. “What was that?” Katsuki demanded of her.

“Can’t,” she snapped back at him.

“Why the hell not?”

“Vernon.”

“The hell is vernon?!” Honestly this conversation was getting ridiculous. Another new word with no explanation. It was like pulling his own teeth out.

“Uncle,” she explained.

He let out a long sigh. He understood nothing. “Explain.” How was her uncle related to the two of them wrestling?

“I fight Dudley, he run Vernon. Vernon be angry. Angry Vernon yell and…” she bit her lip as hesitated. “…and hit me. Vernon hit worse, lots worse. Hurt for weeks.” She explained and Katsuki inhaled sharply.

“Your uncle hits you?” It came out as barely a whisper. Hali nodded. Katsuki clenched his jaw, teeth scraping against each other, nails dug into his palms. “That’s not okay.” She just shrugged at him. That is not okay, not okay at all, parents didn’t hit their kids, never hard enough for it to hurt for days. His mom had hit him over the head before, but the pain had been gone within seconds, a sharp sting to make him focus. It didn’t take weeks for it to go away, not, not weeks, never weeks. Hatred churned in his stomach, it felt like something was burning through his insides. It threw him off a bit. He’d been angry before, annoyed, but it had never felt this bad. As if it would burn straight through his guts, as if it would eat everything in its path.

There had to be something he could do. “You have to tell someone, an adult. Does your aunt know?” He told her, he insisted, that’s all he could do. And wasn’t that a hit in the gut he wasn’t ready for. There was nothing he could do. Absolutely nothing. Earth started crumbling.

“She know,” Hali told him, a said smile pulling at her lips.

“And?” He demanded, the word passing through his teeth. He clung to his anger, anger was good.

“She not do anything,” her eyes were sad at that. And that damned smile was still there. As if she had made her peace with it, with all of it.

“Someone else, a neighbor. Tell a neighbor.”

“I try. She say she call policeman, morning she not know anything.” Hali seemed resigned to it all. Like she had given up on things changing, on things getting better. As if this was just how things were.

“How can you be okay with that?” He didn’t understand, not at all. He would have been yelling loudly enough for the whole town to hear. His mother would have bitten someone’s head clean off. Hell, he was sure even auntie would have yelled and auntie never yelled, never. You couldn’t just be okay with it.

“Can be worse,” she said suddenly and his eyes snapped to hers. “Could take food away, aunt Petunia not allow.” She smiled widely at him, her eyes closed. But all he could see was that gigantic purple bruise on her jaw. It felt like it was getting bigger and bigger, darker and darker. He blinked and it was back to normal. And then the sentence she had just said registered and he realized that the bastard had probably tried that. Had probably tried to take away Hali’s food. Had tried to starve her.

It felt like someone pulled the ground right from under him. It felt like he was falling and there was no bottom to the chasm, just darkness. So many times, had he exclaimed that he would be a hero, a number one hero. Hero’s always won against the villains. They fought every villain they found and won. Yet he couldn’t help his best friend. He simply couldn’t do anything to help. He wanted to cry, to scream, to yell, to punch something. He wanted to be a number one hero and he couldn’t beat up one villain, one villain he needed to beat up the most. He couldn’t save Hali.

Hali pulled at his arm. He heard her say something about playing, about swings. Katsuki gave no response. It felt like he was far, far away. Like there was a wall between them. She was frowning at him now. “I can’t help you.” It sounded so broken to his ears and he wondered who had said that. Only to realized it had been him, so far from his usual confidence.

“Suki,” she called to him softly and he tried to focus on her. “You help,” Hali insisted and he shook his head at her. He wanted to yell at her, at himself at the world. Why was she so calm? Why wasn’t she yelling? Why wasn’t she yelling at him? Why wasn’t she demanding help? Why wasn’t she crying, screaming? Why? Wanted to ask her all that, to tell her no, no he wasn’t helping, he was useless, but she continued before he could say anything, voice firm. “You help, you my friend. I feel safe here. You feel safe. I happy here.” Hali explained and he stopped breathing for just a moment. There was something he could do, wasn’t there. She had just said so herself. He could make their time together the best part of her day. Make her forget for just a bit.

Katsuki grinned at Hali and it felt wrong on his face, it felt forced. But he smiled anyway and pulled her towards the swings. The ground kept shifting under him.

.

The next day Harley was glaring down at her cousin and his minions as they looked for her. One of her legs hung down from the branch and she swung it back and forth in annoyance, not unlike a miffed cat would flick her tail. Last night Suki had looked, she wasn’t even sure how to describe it. He had looked like someone had just broken his favorite toy and had told him Santa wasn’t going to bring him a puppy for Christmas because he was a bad boy. Like he was lost and everything was strange and scary. That was the best she could describe it. And all because of one bruise. She couldn’t warp her head around the whole thing.

She knew he didn’t like it when she showed up with injuries, but usually he would let it go if she insisted enough. Last night he hadn’t really been there for the rest of the dream. He had tried, bless his soul, but his eyes would still get glassy and he would look lost, unsure on his feet. Her fingers hovered over the place the bruise was. Aunt Petunia had dabbed something cold on it and had told her in a stern voice not to touch it. So much trouble over such a small bruise. Her fingers fell back to her lap.

That was why she was sitting high up in a tree right now. She was avoiding Dudley, consequently she was also avoiding any new bruises and scratches. She frowned down at them. This wasn’t the best hiding spot. The idiots would eventually remember that she was a good climber and would start looking up. And once they spotted her would start throwing rocks if she refused to come down. Her foot kept swinging. She also couldn’t run up a tree every time they visited the park, it would get boring. Hell, it was already boring. She bit at the tip of her thumbnail. Where else could she go? She glanced around the park. Anywhere on the playground was a no go, Dud and the gang would find her instantly. And then she would be in for another Harley hunt. This would lead to another injury. And then that would result in a sad, worried and angry Suki.

She snorted. Dud was finding ways to ruin even her dreams. Her eyes rose to aunt Petunia. She was sitting on one of the benches, a long light blue dress covered her legs, a thin white shawl warped around her long neck loosely. A book rested on her lap. Her blonde hair was done up in a simple bun and Harley could see blue eyes flash over the playground ever so often. Wait. A book. Her eyes glanced up behind her aunt to a simple white building with big windows. The library. Harley wasn’t that big on reading, she didn’t really have the time for it. And no one really taught her how to read, all she knew she got from overhearing Dud’s lessons. But she could get into it, especially if it kept her away from Dudley. And it would be a lot more interesting than just sitting in a tree. Dud would probably break into hives if he was forced to sit still and be quiet for any length of time.

Now she just had to make a good enough case for it to aunt Petunia. She chewed on her lip. An idea came to her. It could work. She glanced over to Dud and the lackeys just to make sure they were far away. She then slipped down the tree quickly.

“Aunt Petunia,” she said once she was in front of the woman. Twin chips of ice looked at her.

“What is it?” the tone was cold, but not annoyed.

“Erm, could I go to the library?” She asked, her voice quiet. Blue eyes narrowed.

“Why?”

“The playground is kind of boring,” aunt Petunia’s eyes flashed to the tree Harley had just climbed down from. “And you are always reading and I wanna know what’s so interesting about books,” she continued quickly. Aunt Petunia didn’t seem convinced. “And you wouldn’t have to watch me. And I would be really good and won’t make any trouble,” she quickly added. She held her breath as blue eyes searched her face. Petunia’s eyes turned towards Dudley, her tongue passed quickly over her teeth before she kissed them. Harley’s knees felt weak, as if they would just fall from under her.

“Alright,” her aunt said, Harley felt some unknown weight fall from the bottom of her stomach. “But,” aunt Petunia held up a finger, “but, if you make any sort of trouble, if you embarrass me in anyway, there will be consequences Harley.” Two chips of ice glared at her in warning. “Am I understood?”

Harley nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, aunt Petunia.”

“Right. Now come along.” A flowery bookmarker was quickly placed between the yellowed pages and the book was closed. With that Petunia was on her feet, her long strides carrying her quickly towards the library. Harley had to hurry up to keep up with her aunt, she was almost running and still struggling to keep up.

Aunt Petunia held the doors for her to enter and Harley quickly obeyed the silent command. Once inside green eyes ran over the place in wonder. She’d been here only once before. Aunt Petunia had needed to return a book. It had been a quick visit because Dud was getting impatient. Aunt Petunia nudged her towards a big wooden desk near the entrance. A strict-looking woman sat behind the desk, a big book obscuring her face.

“Hello, Helen.” Petunia greeted the woman. Narrow brown eyes looked over the top of the book.

“Ah, hello Petunia.” Helen’s voice was soft and clear, yet there was firm authority just beneath the surface, something that just made you listen. “Already done?” The brunette asked, a soft teasing smile on her lips. Helen lowered the book further and Harley was able to see her face fully now. Helen was older than her aunt, wrinkles framed her features in many layers and a thick light grey lock framed the right side of her face.

“No, my niece said she wants to stay at the library. She says the playground is boring,” Petunia said, tone light and humorous. A high-pitched snort escaped Helen and the woman quickly covers her mouth in embarrassment. Aunt Petunia was treated to a harsh glare, but the blonde ignored it. “May she stay?”

Brown eyes were on Harley now, searching. Harley felt the need to stand to attention, to straighten up and look the woman in the eye. To show that she was worth it. Worth what she didn’t know. Suddenly she understood how Petunia and Helen were friends. “Is she anything like…” Helen’s question trailed off, but everyone knew exactly who she was referring to.

“My Dudders is nothing but an angel.” Petunia’s tone is offended and Helen looks unimpressed. A moment passed of them just staring at each other, before one of Helen’s thin eyebrows rose. “However, I will admit he can be an energetic child.” Petunia’s tone and words were diplomatic but her nose was turned up in distaste. It was as if the words themselves tasted bad. “Harley is very quiet and polite, a bit shy and timid if I am honest. She won’t cause you any trouble.” Those twin chips were staring at her again and Harley quickly nodded.

“I won’t cause any trouble miss Helen,” she promised, her eyes averted to the floor and her fingers twisted in the bottom of her shirt.

After a long moment Helen nodded. “Alright.” Harley looked up at the woman hopefully and the librarian’s lips twitched towards a smile. She points behind Harley. “Over there you’ll find the kid’s section.” The redhead nodded and thanked the woman before quickly following her directions. She heard Petunia and Helen exchanging a few more words, but she paid them no mind.

The kid’s section wasn’t hard to find. It was nestled in one of the corners of the building. Two giant windows bathed the small area in warm light. There were a few chairs and two desks, but most of the space is taken up by many colorful pillows. There were a few pillow nests made for kids to snuggle in. There was one other kid already there. A small girl maybe a year or two older than Harley herself sat in one of the nests with a giant book in her lap. Her pale white face framed by black locks was turned towards the book. Dark blue eyes glanced up and met green ones.

“Hello,” Harley says lowly with a small wave. The girl squeaked before hiding behind her book. It startled Harley enough that she actually jumped up and away. Okay, so there would be no talking to the other girl. As she looked around at the colorful books on the low shelves a giant smile pulled at Harley’s lips. This was where she would be spending her time now. Far away from Dudley and his cronies.

No more Harley hunting. No more bruises and scratches. Her grin got bigger. Now Suki won’t be so worried for her. She grabbed a thin red book from one of the shelves before snuggling in a nest far away from the nameless girl. This wasn’t her preferred activity but it was better than the alternative. She cracked the book open, and she could improve her reading. She knew her letters, but putting together words was still very hard for her.

.

Katsuki stared at his reflection. He looked…tiered. Was the red in his eyes duller than usual? Or was he imagining things? He shook his head, unimportant. He picked up his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth, his thoughts far away. What he found out last night, the things Hali had said. Why would anyone…why would anyone hit Hali? And the other things she had said. She had told a neighbor once, about…about the whole thing. And they forgot?! How was that possible? Did either his aunt or uncle have some type of memory quirk? Something to make someone forget?

Now that he thought about it, Hali never mentioned any quirks or even her favorite heroes. Why was that? Maybe they just didn’t let her watch tv. She had mentioned before that she had chores to do, lots of chores. Maybe there was no time for tv. He spat out the foam, brows drawn together. In the end that wasn't really important was it? He had bigger issues, Hali had bigger issues. He had to find some way to help her, he just had too.

He looked up and red eyes glare back.

He walked downstairs to the kitchen without really being aware of doing so. 

"Fucking cupboard!" He heard his mom shout. A loud slam followed together with quiet words from his father. Another slam. This time something creaked and snapped. He blinked.

Katsuki walked into the kitchen only to see his mother standing next to the stove with half of cupboard door hanging from her hand. He could hear her teeth grinding together all the way from the doorway. 

"Ah, honey let me take that," dads soft reassuring voice said as he pried the door piece from mom's white fingers.

"I’ll go to the store after breakfast," he told her. "Get a new door. Okay?" Masaru asked softly a small placating smile stretching across his lips.

"You do that," his mom growled back. Red eyes glared at the still attached part of the door.

Brown eyes blinked before focusing on him. "Ah, Katsuki, good morning." Dad greeted.

Mitsuki twisted on her toes towards him, a bright smile taking over her face. It seemed like sparkles were coming from it. "Morning Kacchan!" she grated her son brightly.

Katsuki merely scoffed at her before sitting down at the table. 

"Oi, you brat! Greet your mother!" A quick light slap was delivered to the back of his head. It didn’t hurt. It didn't hurt at all and wasn't that a startling discovery.

His mother continued to lecture him, her voice getting louder and louder as more swear words were added to her speech. He stared at his plate, lost. 

"Katsuki," dad's voice called, calm and low. His mom quieted almost instantly. He looked up from his plate at brown eyes. "What's wrong?"

He opened his mouth to explain, to ask what to do, anything... But how do you explain this? A girl I meet with in my dreams is abused by her family. One of them might have a memory erasure quirk so she can't tell anyone. And she is in a different country and speaks a completely different language so there is nothing he can actually do.

"Bad dream," he says instead and hopes they drop it. He doesn’t want to explain. Doesn’t think he can. How do you put something like this into words? He just doesn’t know enough words to do it.

"Wanna talk about it?" His dad asks. He can hear his mom shifting on her feet. He can't explain this. They wouldn't even believe him, even if he did. He shakes his head.

"Okay," his father let's it go. Katsuki’s mom shifts on her feet as she sends her husband an unhappy glare. "Okay," he repeats with more force and gives his wife a firm look. "If you change your mind we will always listen. Okay?" He smiles at his son and Katsuki nods slowly. His mom huffs behind him.

Breakfast is a silent affair. So much unlike their usual breakfast. Usually Katsuki and Mitsuki yell at each other about what ever annoyed them that morning while Masaru tries to calm them both down. Today Katsuki quietly stares at his plate as he eats. He can't even taste the food he just goes through the motions. His mom and dad are talking about work but he can still feel their worried gazes every so often. 

It grates.

Annoyance bubbles to the surface. 

"Will you stop staring you old hag," he growls up at her, red eyes flashing from beneath his brow.

Mitsuki is froze in surprise for a mere second before she's growling right back. "We are worried about you, you brat!" A hand smacks on the table as she leans forward to glare at him.

He growls, teeth flashing. "I don't need your pity! I'm fine! It was just a shitty dream." And isn't that the painful truth, he's fine.

Mitsuki growls back. And now they are glaring and growling and spitting words at each other. It feels normal, light. Simple annoyance overtakes any emptiness he had felt. He realizes then, as he calls his mom an old hag, that being angry is so much easier that that empty lost feeling. So, he lets it take over. Lets anger burn through his gut. Anger at Hali’s uncle and aunt and cousin. Anger at her neighbour and the police and everyone who doesn’t question her bruises. He vows then to find some way to help Hali and to kick Vernon’s villainous ass and send him to jail. Vows to be the best hero ever. Vows to save Hali.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll see ya guys in the next one. Chao!


	3. Batman vs Bunnyman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have chapter three. Let’s get to it.

Over the next few days Katsuki kept getting worse and worse. He had decided that instead of felling empty and helpless he would be angry and he stuck to it with a scary level of dedication. This also meant that he was irritated more often than not, more things irritated him too. People saying stupid things, rain, people breathing too loudly, kids yelling near him, it all irritated him so much. At first, he had just ground his teeth together and tried to calm down, tried to not snap. Just don’t snap. But as it had started to happen more often, as more things irritated him, it was harder and harder to just not yell, not fight, not attack. And then he had just stopped trying.

The first time he had snapped was during daycare. One of the bigger kids had pushed one of the girls to the ground, which had made her cry. The kid then started making fun of her. The girl had just sobbed louder and curled in on herself. All the other kids were just standing there either laughing or staring. Some were worried and mumbled about how someone should get one of the adults, or how the kid should stop, or about how mean he was.

They were just standing there talking, complaining. Someone should do this or that. But no one was doing anything.

No one.

Was.

Doing.

Anything.

It was as if his vision turned red. He stalked up to the guy. The kid was bigger, taller, meaner. It was one of the few kids that already got their quirks. It was a lame quirk, sticking small objects to his skin. What a lame quirk. But he was one of the first, so he was one of the cool kids now. He was one of the few who thought they were top dog because they had a quirk. What a useless quirk. The kid turned to him with a snarl, a question on his lips. Before he could ask, before Katsuki had to hear his annoying voice again, Katsuki socked him right in the jaw.

The kid fell down like a house of cards and it got really quiet.

He had yelled out something at the brat. He wasn’t even sure what it was exactly. Something about him being annoying and weak and to get out of his sight. The kid had clawed at the dirt just to get away as fast as possible. Red eyes flashed behind him as he ran away.

And then he had turned down towards the girl. She had stopped sobbing, but tears were still running down her face. Light grey almost white eyes turned to him, locked with red. And suddenly he saw Hali in front of him. Hali with a giant burn on her arm. Hali with a limp. Hali with a cut across her palm. Hali with a giant dark purple bruise across her jaw and the biggest happiest smile on her face.

He blinked and she was gone. In her place was this girl. This girl with tear streaks on her face, her whole body shaking and not a scratch on her. Not a single one. Somehow, she was even more annoying than the brat that had pushed her down, had made fun of her. His teeth had clicked, red eyes narrowing as he glared down at her. She had flinched back.

He had yelled at her too. Told her to stop crying, that she was annoying. Told her to standup for herself, to stop being useless. It had just made her cry more and that made him even more annoyed. He had stomped away then. Too irritated to do anything else.

It kept happening. Something annoyed him and he just snapped. Adults, kids, it didn’t matter. If they annoyed him he snapped. Mostly he just shouted and cursed, but there were a few times when it came to blows.

And that is why he wasn’t surprised to find himself staring at dad’s surprised face as he hung from mom’s fist by the back of his shirt like a misbehaving puppy. Annoyed, but not surprised. Dad’s eyes glanced at his mom, question clear to all three of them.

“You deal with him,” Mitsuki snapped, shaking her son back and forth slightly.

Masaru let out a long, tired sigh. “What did he do this time?”

“He bit a kid today.”

Ah yes, he had. Granted that hadn’t been his intention exactly. The asshole had kept cracking his knuckles right next to him. When he had snapped at the brat to stop doing that shit the kid had blinked at him before saying _‘Make me.’_ So Katsuki did. He very much had made him stop. Admittedly trying to bite someone’s finger off to stop them from cracking their knuckles wasn’t his brightest moment.

“I’ve tried everything! Everything Masaru! And it all goes in one ear and out the other.” Katsuki’s mom ranted. “I’m out of ideas, so he’s your problem now,” she continued as she pretty much thrusted her son in Masaru’s face.

His dad took off his glasses and scratched at the back of his head.

“So, what do you want me to do?” The poor man asked as he looked up at his wife.

“I. Don’t. Know.” Mitsuki hissed at her husband. “As I said, I’m out of ideas. He’s your problem now,” and with that little statement she dropped Katsuki on Masaru’s lap and stomped away. “I’m going out with Inko-chan,” she said as she grabbed her coat. “Good luck, honey!” And with a sickeningly bright smile she was out of the house.

Masaru merely sighed.

“What are we going to do with you?” He asked his son, while his demon child just glared at him.

In the end Masaru’s solution was very simple. Keep Katsuki too busy and too tiered to attack. And it worked like a charm…mostly.

Katsuki was signed up for three different classes. Capoeira, football and a general arts class. Capoeira he had three times a week, football two and the art class was only once a week.

He liked Capoeira, he really liked Capoeira. It was so cool and flashy. At first, he was pissed he had to waste his time in some lame fighting class. What was the point anyway? He was going to have the best, strongest quirk ever. Of what use was a fighting style to him? No use what so ever. No one learned any martial arts anymore. It was lame and useless.

He’d been grumpy the whole day. The class was taught by a very tall man whose quirk was very much useless. His hair kept switching between silver, light blue and deep green. Oalo-sensei was an incredibly cheerful person, very energetic too. The man had kept bouncing on his toes when he wasn’t walking. He’d given them a quick summary of his life and history of Capoeira. All of it useless, boring information. Katsuki had been scowling the whole time. He was already planning on demanding his father let him leave this class.

And then Oalo-sensei showed off.

Capoeira was quick, rhythmic and loud. Katsuki was mesmerized as the man moved. The whole group of kids was. There had been simple music playing in the background, something with a clear strong beat. At first Oalo-sensei moved in a rough U shape, from one leg to the other, following the rhythm. Then as the beat picked up slightly he added simple kicks to the step. Kick, twist, move. Kick, twist, move. Then the beat picked up again and the man truly showed off.

Oalo-sensei started doing twists and turn and flips and it all looked impossible and so very amazing. Every kick was made with a strong twist. Sometimes Oalo-sensei was low to the ground his leg extended in a sweep before quickly moving back into a crouch and moving away. Sometimes he jumped high going for a high kick with one leg and then the other. He would twist back, hands touching the floor before kicking and landing back on his legs. He never kicked and then stopped. Every kick was followed either by a step or another kick. He was all over the place, quick, light on his feet, never stopping, confident. He dominated the space and held everyone’s attention.

Then the music stopped and Oalo-sensei smiled down at them. Katsuki wanted to know it all.

Football on the other hand was boring. Especially when compared to Capoeira. You ran on a giant field and kicked a ball while some guy yelled at you. That was it. His dad was convinced it would teach him to work with others, or at least to play nice. In all honesty it was just trying Katsuki’s patience. Most of the kids were slow and clumsy. One of the kids was simply not able to kick the ball straight. It always somehow curved right back around towards him. Always.

Katsuki may or may not have kicked the ball at the kids head in frustration. He claimed it had been an accident, but he was pretty sure the coach, a middle-aged man with a huge brown beard and no hair on his marble scalp, didn’t believe him. The man had let it slide just this once. Just this once, Bakugo.

The art class was genuinely the worst thing that could have happened to him. His dad’s reasoning for this torture was that apparently Katsuki needed a ‘creative outlet’ and ‘a way to create instead of destroy’. Bunch of nonsense in his opinion.

The class was held by a barely out of college girl with bright pink hair and colorful clothes. She had called her quirk ‘butterfly eyes’, this apparently meant she could see as many colors as a butterfly could, which was more than humans could. Who knew, Katsuki certainly hadn’t. The class was made up of fifteen children, all different ages, from four to sixteen. They would be doing all the artforms. Painting, sculpting, origami, drawing, photography and anything and everything Emi-sensei thought of.

On the first day they were given paint, bushes, a simple pencil, a canvas and a bowl of fruit. Emi-sensei had told them to just simply draw how they felt like, that they could sketch their subject, the fruit, first or they could get into painting right away. They could also paint any way they wanted, fingers, brushes, wadded up tissue. This was an introductory class and was supposed to give them an introduction, imagine that, into art.

Everyone had just gotten into it. The atmosphere had been light, happy. Katsuki had just wanted it over and done with. He glared down at the paint when an idea struck him. He could paint any way he wanted, couldn’t he. He grabbed a glob of bright orange paint his fingers accidentally scraping a bit of scarlet before he just threw it at the canvas. Orange splattered in the middle of the canvas, a few hints of red could be seen in the globe. He grinned, all teeth on show. Now this was something he could get behind. He grabbed one of the bigger paintbrushes, dipped it into a dark yellow and then flicked it at the canvas. It splattered next to the orange.

And so, he continued. A big green glob for the apple, bunch of smaller dark blue globs for the grapes, a long brown and yellow glob with long green flicks above it for a pineapple. He refused to add the plums, they were just the right shade of bruising purple. He stepped back and looked at the painting. It looked like a bunch of colorful globs. He glanced at the fruit bowl. With a frown he picked up a smaller brush and added a few details. A brown line as a stalk for the apple, some green on the orange, brown lines on the banana. He looked at the painting again, still didn’t look like fruit. Ah, well.

“Oh wow,” Emi-sensei’s soft musical voice said from right behind him making him jump in surprise. Surprise not fright.

Emi-sensei’s bright orange eyes were fixated on his painting. She hummed in thought. “You put a lot of emotion behind this painting,” she said, but it didn’t seem like she was talking to him. “Much anger in these strokes.” Her eyes flowed over the canvas.

And then she smiled warmly at him. “Very good,” and then she was moving away.

Weird woman. He looked back at the painting. He had had fun, even if he was never going to admit it out loud. In fact, he still very much complained to his parents about this cruel torture. His mom yelling at him because he got paint all over his clothes was just icing on the cake.

Things were getting better. He went to daycare, he hadn’t attacked anyone, he went to his classes, he played with the kids at the park and shared his dreams with Hali. Things were looking up, at least for a while.

.

“It's fine now. Why? Because I am here!" Suki yelled out as he jumped off his bed. There was a toy in his fist. Harley giggled as he landed right in front of her. She had two toys in her hands, a pretty blonde girl and a monster with three eyes and a hammer instead of one arm.

“Hand over the hostage villain!” Suki yelled as he slammed his toy in front of the monster. Harley laughed loudly, Suki was trying to imitate someone’s voice, someone who had a deeper voice, a much deeper voice, and it sounded ridiculous and the boy slipped too often back to his own much higher tone.

“Never!” She yelled back and hit Suki’s toy with the monster. Soon the two toys were fighting each other, the two children were making all the necessary booming noises as hits landed. And then the monster was knocked away from Harley’s hand and Suki gave a winning shout.

“Ha! All Might wins again!” He grinned at her and then they were both laughing.

That was a name Suki had mentioned many times before. All Might. It was the name of the Suki’s favorite toy. The toy was in a red and blue costume and had blond hair and bunny ears ( _“It is his hair Hali! All Might doesn’t have bunny ears!”_ ). From what she understood Suki looked up to this All Might, whoever he might be.

“Hey Hali.” Green eyes looked up. Suki’s eyes flashed to a small scab on her chin before they returned to her eyes. “Who’s your favorite hero?” He asked her. Harley blinked at him, brows drawn together in confusion and lips set in a pout.

“My favorite hero?” She asked slowly, not understanding.

“Yeah, your favorite hero.” Suki had repeated before he blinked. He’d never told her what that word meant. “A hero is a person who…” his brows drew together as he thought, lip between his teeth. It is something he had picked up from her, lip biting. Suki hadn’t noticed yet he was doing it and she wasn’t inclined to point it out, he might stop. She didn’t want him to stop doing it. It made their time seem more real, it made it seem like she was a part of his life.

“A hero is…a hero is a person who saves people from bad people. Like All Might,” he shoved the bunny man in her face. “Like we were just playing, he saved the pretty lady from the villain.” He pointed to both toys as he explained it to her. “Do you get it now?” He asked.

Harley nodded slowly. She thought she got it. A hero was someone who saved people, someone who helped people. They had played this game before, the hero vs villain. Sometimes bunny man had to save the pretty lady from monsters, sometimes he had to save her from some other danger, sometimes her life was in danger.

“So, who’s your favorite hero?” Suki leaned towards her eyes wide. This was important to him, Harley realized.

She wanted to say the right thing, to make Suki happy. Except she didn’t know of any heroes. Her brows drew together. No one could fit the description Suki had just given. No one she knew just helped people. Her eyes looked up from beneath her brows, up at Suki. His red eyes were wide in anticipation, blond hair a mess. She grinned then at him. There was one person and one person only she knew of that fit that description.

“Suki,” she grinned widely at the boy in question.

Suki just blinked quickly at her. “Huh?” Very eloquent of him.

“Suki is my favorite hero,” she clarified, pronouncing each word slowly. Suki was suddenly bright red. She blinked in confusion. Had she said something wrong. He was looking away from her, picking at the collar of his shirt and hiding his chin in it.

“I meant a really hero dummy,” he said but was still looking away from her.

She blinked. “Suki is a real hero,” she repeated firmly. What wasn’t he getting?

A long sigh left the boy as he started to resemble a blond tomato. “You are so embarrassing. I mean who is your favorite adult hero, you know, someone who’s job it is to save people. I’m not a hero, not yet.” Now she was confused. Whose job it was to save people?

“Suki is my hero,” she clarified again with a nod. She wasn’t sure about what Suki was talking, but this was something she was sure of. Suki groaned at her words. But there was a wide grin stretched across his face that he was trying to hide in his shirt and his skin now matched his eye color perfectly so she must have done something right. She grinned happily at him.

And then there was loud knocking and shouting and she was back in her dark cupboard under the stairs.

The question remained on her mind for the rest of the day. Who was her favorite hero? A real hero. She didn’t know any heroes. How was she supposed to know who her favorite hero was? Someone whose job it was to be a hero. She frowned at that. She had never heard of such a thing. She had overheard someone’s mom calling firefighters heroes. Was that what Suki had meant?

She doubted it.

It was lunch and she was just moving her food around the plate. It was still bothering her. Was this just another language barrier? She could feel aunt Petunia’s hawk-like gaze drilling a hole in the side of her head. She popped a baked potato into her mouth. She couldn’t taste it, but the glare went away. Then an idea came to her.

“Aunt Petunia,” she called softly to the woman. Icy eyes looked towards her. “What’s a hero?” She asked the woman. If anyone could explain it to her it would be aunt Petunia, she was really smart. Petunia chewed on her food for a moment.

“You mean like Batman!” Dud exclaimed before Petunia could answer. Green eyes turned to her fat cousin.

“Batman?”

“Yeah!”

“Who’s Batman?” She frowned.

“You mean you don’t know?!” Dud’s eyes were comically wide as he stared at her. When she shook her head, he continued. “He’s so cool. He has this awesome dark costume, that looks kind of like a bat. And he has this giant black cloak, and, and he has a Batmobile, and all these cool gizmos.” Dud explained quickly, fighting for breath as he hurried to get it all out, his leg thumped against his chair in his excitement. It was starting to make Harley excited too. “And he kicks bad guys’s asses. And his biggest enemy is the Joker. He’s crazy. He does all these bad things for fun and to annoy Batman. They fight all the time. Joker makes all these traps to kill Batman but Batman always escapes and beats Joker up.”

“And he’s a hero?” Harley asked as she tilted her head.

“Ahah,” Dud nodded quickly at her. “And he has all these hero friends, like the Flash, and Green Lantern and Superman. Superman is really cool too. He’s an alien and he’s invin- invi-“ Dudley stumbled over the word.

“Invincible, Duddykins.” Aunt Petunia told him softly. There was a small, soft smile on her lips as she watched her son’s excited explanation.

“Yeah, and he also bets up bad guys. He’s awesome, but Batman’s still awesomer.” Dud nodded firmly like it was a law.

“Are there other hero’s?” Harley asked, this all seemed so exciting. No wonder Suki liked heroes so much.

“Lots!” Dudley exclaimed. She had never seen him smile so widely at her. He always snarled or mocked. “There’s Wonder Woman. Oh, and there’s Iron Man, he’s almost as awesome as Batman. He has this suit he built, and it can fly and blast bad guys.” Dudley extend his hand palm pointing towards her and made some sort of whooshing noise. “There’s also Cyclops, and Beast, oh and Wolverine. He heals real fast, this one time her got shot in the head and it healed right away.”

“No way!” Harley exclaimed. That couldn’t be real.

“Uhuh,” her cousin nodded firmly, like he shared some great wisdom. “And he has these claws that come out of his hands.” Dud stuck his knife and fork between his fingers and swiped towards his dad.

“Careful there Duddykins,” aunt Petunia warned him softly and Dud stopped swiping. He brought his ‘claws’ in front of his face so he could stare at Harley from between them.

“He’s a mutant. That’s why he heals so fast and has claws.” Dudley looked very proud of the fact he knew that.

“What’s a mutant?” Harley asked. She was in too deep now. It was all so interesting and new and Dud made it sound exciting.

“They are like us but they were born with superpowers. Like Wolverine’s healing and claws. Cyclops can shoot lasers out of his eyes. Beast has blue fur, he’s kind of lame actually.” Dud frowned at that. “Malcolm is so lame for liking him,” he mumbled to himself.

“People can be born with superpowers?” She asked, eyes wide in wonder, but before Dud could say anything Vernon started choking on his food. His face turning purple in anger.

“What is this nonsense about superpowers!?” He boomed, his glare directed at her and Harley flinched back. “I will hear no more nonsense about superpowers, everyone in this house is normal. You hear me! Normal!” He snapped, his face getting more purple with each word.

“Of course, darling,” aunt Petunia agreed softly, but her eyes were sharp as she stared he husband down. “Those are just stories children enjoy these days,” she said and Harley felt as if there was a hidden message there. “Just stories and nothing more.” And so the whole situation was deflated with just a few words.

“But Pet-“ Vernon tried.

“No buts, our son enjoys these comic books and he knows they aren’t real,” it sounded like a warning to Harley. “Now how about you tell me more about this man-bat Popkin?” Petunia turned to her son with a big smile on her face, her tone teasing.

“Its Batman mom,” Dudley whined at her.

“Ah, my mistake.”

And so, Vernon’s little outburst was set aside. Still there was something bothering Harley. Aunt Petunia had said that all those heroes were just stories, made up. But Suki had talked about them like they were real people. Did Suki think they were real? No Suki was smarter than that. So, what was up with that?

“Hey Dud, you ever heard of All Might?”

“All Might?” Dudley frowned at her. “No, he sounds lame. Where did you even hear about him?” Dud’s nose wiggled in distaste.

“I just heard someone mention him,” she shrugged quickly.

“Lame.” And that was that, he was back to explaining to his mom why Batman was the best hero ever.

Dud had never heard of Suki’s bunny man, how weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut. Masaru is writing a book titled ‘How to keep your demon child busy’. That moment when you’re researching something and you start arguing with an article simply because the author is a pretentious prick.
> 
> **Timeline help:** Right so, this story will go through the HP plot line before we get to BNHA. I want to finish with HP before I get to BNHA, I don’t want the two to mix, no surprise Voldemort in BNHA. I’m not doing that. Anyway, to achieve this Hogwarts schooling will be starting at ten. I will also need to combine plotlines from two of the books. I need help deciding on which ones to combine. Right now I’m thinking either 2+3 or 5+6. What do you guys think? This is further down the line but I do want to have a rough outline ASAP and this is kind of important.
> 
> **Martial arts choice:** Right so, before you get on my case let me explain myself. I chose Capoeira for Katsuki for two main reasons. I was looking at this from Masaru’s perspective. Capoeira is somewhere between dancing and fighting, you are always moving on your feet, it’s also very show-offy and flashy. The first reason I chose it is because it is very taxing, you are always moving, Masaru’s goal was to keep Katsuki exhausted and Capoeira fits that nicely. The second reason is that it fits Katsuki’s personality. As I said it’s very show-offy and flashy, it’s a style that would keep Katsuki interested.
> 
> Later on, I do want him to teach Harley the basics of self-defence, so I might have him either switch or pick up another style alongside Capoeira. I’m currently leaning towards either Krav Maga or Jujutsu. Krav Maga because it encourages neutralizing your opponent by any means necessary and as quickly as possible with minimal harm to yourself. Jujutsu because it uses the attacker’s momentum against them. I will have to look more into both to decide. So any wisdom you might feel like sharing in this department is welcome.
> 
> **Pairing:** Okay so I have an idea and I want input. There are a lot of slow burn fics, like a shit ton, like a kill me pls amount. It is all awkward pining from both sides with neither knowing how to approach the elephant in the room. I’m so fucking tired of those so what if I just…skip that shit. Instead of them awkwardly pining at 15, I have them get together pretty young like 10 or something and they have to figure out what exactly being in a relationship means. You know how little kids have boyfriends and girlfriends and they don’t know what it means. Well that except they don’t break up over a green jelly bean or something. How do those relationships end anyway? They just forget? Just an idea for now, but do tell me you opinions.
> 
> Wow, that’s a lot of notes. See ya guys in the next one. Chao!


	4. Short fuse

They were in Katsuki’s backyard. The grass was soft under them. There was a warm breeze and it moved the blades of grass so they tickled their skin. The sky was a startling blue and big fat fluffy clouds floated above them. They had felt like having a slow dream for once, no studying, no playing, no teaching, no running, just relaxing. Hali had suggested that they could just lie down and look for shapes in the clouds. Except this was a dream and every single cloud had a unique and distinct shape to it. There wasn’t a cloud that _resembled_ a bunny, instead there was a cloud that _was_ shaped like a bunny. The activity was therefore deemed boring by both of them.

So, cloud watching had been quickly abandoned and instead they had decided to tell each other about their last few days. Hali’s tinkling laughter carried over to Katsuki easily, so did the loud graceless snort that followed. Katsuki grinned widely, it felt good to make Hali laugh, to make her smile. It felt good to simply make her happy. Hali hadn’t wanted them to lie down parallel to each other, she wanted them to be closer. So, here they were, head to head, practically ear to ear. Out of the corner of his eye he could just barely make out Hali’s face and the hand covering her mouth, trying to stop any more snorts from coming out. Her cheeks were dusted a light pink, Katsuki wasn’t sure if it was simply from laughter or embarrassment.

Hali’s hand fell back down to the ground, her laughter had stopped but there was a wide grin still stretched across her lips as she turned her head to look at Katsuki. Green eyes sparkling with mirth. He knew she would bring something up just to tease him.

“What about your art class? Were you drawing fruit again?” She teased and it had never felt so bad to be right.

“Don’t even start with that shit, that woman is obsessed I swear,” Katsuki complained loudly. It had been all they were doing for the last few weeks, drawing fruit. Granted Emi-sensei did make them draw with different techniques. Charcoal one-week, colorful pencils the next, water color after and so on. His grin fell away at the memory, only to be replaced by an exasperated expression. The charcoal had been the worst, half the class had dark smudges all over, including Katsuki. Especially Katsuki. Hali giggled at him.

He glared back in warning, he did not need her teasing him again. “No, we weren’t,” he said pointedly, red eyes focused onto teasing green. “We were trying to sculpt cups,” he explained and turned his nose up and away from the redhead. This just earned him more giggling. Damn that girl, but he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at her, not truly, no. He could still pretend and he damn well will.

“And how did yours turn out?” She asked, now curious. That was the thing, listening about the art class was Hali’s favorite thing simply because she had never been allowed to do anything similar. It was always either chores when she was at home or reading at the library when she went out with Petunia and Dudley. She didn’t even go to the daycare simply because her aunt didn’t work. The only reason she teased him was because she knew how much he disliked the class…and he let her.

He felt his cheeks warm up at the question itself. Katsuki mumbled his answer, not really wanting to answer it. It was a quick collection of sounds with no rhyme or reason…or so Hali thought. He knew Hali wouldn’t let it slide, she was too interested in his answer to just let go. She quieted down, blinked her big green eyes slowly, before frowning.

“What was that?”

“I said!” He yelled at her, frustrated beyond any reason now, his cheeks bright red. “I said that mine was crooked, all right,” he huffs and turns his head away, away from those damned green eyes. Said green eyes blinked slowly as they stared at him, not that Katsuki noticed too busy sulking, excuse you, glaring at the sky.

Okay so his cup had been crooked and wider at the top than at the bottom and you could clearly see the indentations of his fingers as he had tried to straighten the damn thing out, instead making the whole thing worse, and some other kids had made fun of him. It meant nothing! He didn’t care! Not about the kids! Not about the stupid cup! He was above a stupid cup! And above those, those extras! He was going to be the number one hero, he didn’t need to know how to make a cup. He wasn’t going to pull out some clay out while fighting a villain and make a cup! No one did that. He saw no reason he should be able to do it.

Frustration, anger and embarrassment mixed. Katsuki just kept glaring at the sky, ignoring Hali’s feeble attempts to gain his attention. He didn’t need her making fun of him too. He really didn’t. He felt bad enough already. The stupid cup didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. So why did it?

Suddenly his world was covered in red. His eyes widened as he stared. A thick curtain of red locks obscured the outside world. Katsuki looked up at a pair of too bright green eyes. It was just them here. There was a soft smile pulling on her lips, eyes warm but focused. Focused on him. He couldn’t look away. There was no trace of laughter, of teasing.

“Was this the first cup you made?” She asked him and Katsuki’s brows drew together. What was she getting at? He nodded slowly, never breaking eye contact.

“Well then you’ll do better on the next one,” and with that little nugget of wisdom she laid back down. He blinked up at the blue sky and a big fish cloud that was blowing bubbles at a crab cloud. What?

“What?”

“You’ll make the next one better,” she clarified and that was that, her tone was firm and the statement had an air of finality to it.

Katsuki’s heart fluttered in his chest and he had to take a deep breath to calm down. How could he doubt her? How could she know just the right thing to say? But, that was the thing about Hali, wasn’t it. She understood, somehow, she just understood. She adored him and thought he was the best thing since sliced bread, he was her hero, her only hero, but the thing was she didn’t expect him to be the best. Hali expected him to be better. And that made a world of difference to Katsuki.

He could try in front of her. He didn’t try in front of others, not his dad, not the old hag, not auntie, not Izuku, not anyone else. He didn’t try in front of them, he succeeded. But in front of Hali he could try, he was allowed to try.

He remembered one time before when he had tried in front of the others. Some older kid had showed off, had balanced a long stick at the tip of his finger no problem. It might have been some type of quirk, he’s still not sure. Katsuki had tried to do it too. He had found a long stick and had tried to balance it on only just the tip of his finger. He had failed. He had failed and the stick had smacked him across the face as it fell and everyone, _everyone_ had laughed at him. It had followed him for weeks, no one had hesitated to remind him of his failure. Of how the stick had smacked across the face and how funny it had been. _Yeah, Katsuki, you can hang upside down on the monkey bars, but do you remember that one time a stick beat you up?_

He expected that it would be the same with the stupid cup. That he would be remined of the damn thing at every future art class. There was no doubt about it. He did something better than the others and the cup would be brought right back up. _Oh yes, you drew that great, but do you remember the cup, oh but Katsuki, let’s be honest, can we even call that thing a cup?_

He glanced at Harley and shifted closer so their hair tangled together. Her messy red curls against his spiky blonde locks. She’d never done that and he had done some pretty embarrassing things in front of her. Falling on his face from the monkey bars came to mind. Yet she hadn’t made fun of him. She’d snorted, that graceless snort of hers, checked if he was fine and told him how to do better.

They laid there in silence, watching a dog cloud chase a cat cloud that was chasing a mouse cloud, and just enjoying each other’s company. Then Hali pipped up. “Oh yeah! Do you remember the library girl? The one that squeaks a lot?” she asked him, nose brushing against his head as she turned her head.

His brows drew together. The squeaky library girl, yeah, Katsuki remembered her somewhat. Harley had told him about her, many times, mostly to complain about how skittish the girl was. He didn’t really know much about her, had never really paid attention when Hali talked about her. The girl was nothing and no one to him, he simply didn’t care for her. He nodded anyway.

“Well she told me what her name was!” Hali beamed at him. Katsuki blinked and waited, Hali was too excited to stop her story there, he could already tell. “I was looking for a book. _Little red riding hood_ , I don’t know what you call it. It’s about a girl with a red hood that goes to visit her grandma in the woods and gets eaten by a wolf. Do you know it? Anyway,” she didn’t even wait for his answer, so excited was she about her new knowledge, too excited to wait. “I asked the squeaky girl if she knew where it was, I don’t know why. Didn’t think she would answer. And I was kind of right she didn’t, she just squeaked and leapt from he pillows and scurried away…Like a mouse!” Hali said in one breath, trying to get the story out as quickly as possible. Katsuki could only blink at her, trying to process her rapid words.

“I was really disappointed at that. I mean I didn’t expect much from the beginning, but still. But anyway, we’re not friends so I just decided to keep looking for the book. I really wanted to read it again, it was so good. So, I’m looking all over the shelves for the thing when suddenly there’s a big red book almost slapping me in the face.” Hali continued, she had sat up in her excitement and Katsuki was now looking at her upside down. Her face was bright.

“I look up and it’s squeaky girl handing me the book. She’s still hiding behind her book and she mumbles _‘Here’_ at me.” Hali imitates the girls voice, it’s a soft quiet tone, barely there. “At first, I’m so confused, I’ve never heard her talk and I’ve been going there for weeks! I mean can you blame me! I didn’t even know she _could_ talk!” He could hear the frustration in Hali’s voice. She was becoming more animated as the story continued, hands flying everywhere. He grinned up at her, she was too funny when she got worked up. “And her voice is so pretty!” Hali gushed suddenly. “You can’t even imagine. So, there we are just staring at each other and it’s getting so awkward and she’s turning redder and redder and is sinking further down behind her book. I felt so bad, I mean I’m the one making it awkward, so I just take the book and thank her.” Hali mimes taking the book away with both hands.

“She just nods and turns around and I’m panicking now. Cause this might be the last time we talk and I see her all the time and I don’t even know her name. So, I pretty much shout my name at her, she jumped so high I thought she was gonna hit the ceiling. I thought she was gonna scuttle away under the shelves, she was shaking so bad. Instead she slowly turns towards me.” Hali stopped for dramatic affect. “And tells me her name!” The redhead gushes. “Her name’s Jennifer, but she prefers Jen, says everyone calls he Jen” and with that she threw her fists up in the air victoriously and flopped back down beside him. Katsuki laughed loudly at her theatrics. He had just calmed down enough to her Hali’s whispered question.

“Do you think she would be my friend?” It was such a soft whisper that Katsuki barely caught it. It was as if Hali was terrified of the very idea. Something heavy settled in his gut. He felt cold all over yet there was jealousy burning right through his chest. The ground shifted.

“I know, she only just told me her name, it doesn’t mean anything, but still…” Hali continued quietly eyes on the sky. Katsuki didn’t really register her words too busy with his own thoughts.

Hali was special. Hali was also his, only his. No one else’s. He was her hero, her _only_ hero. He didn’t want to share her with anyone. She belonged to him, he was her best friend. He didn’t want some random scaredy-cat library girl replacing him. That jealousy mixed with anger now. And it burned. It burned through his chest and curled around his heart. How dare this mousy girl try to get what was his. How dare Hali even think of replacing him. Wasn’t he enough? He glared up at the sky, a dolphin cloud swam quickly out of his sight. His fists were curled, nails biting into his skin.

“What do you think, Suki?” Hali asked him. He wanted to yell to shout. To tell her no, to tell her to not even think about befriending the library girl, to not dare replace him. He turned his head intending to do just that, the words got stuck in his throat. He met Hali’s poison green eyes and the words just halted. They were right there, he could feel them in his throat, so close to being said. Her eyes were filled with hope, fear and sadness in equal measure. His throat was tightening, breath whizzing. He turned back to the sky.

“I don’t know,” he forced out. Selfish, so selfish. He couldn’t bring himself to say what he truly wanted to. Not with Hali looking at him like that. He couldn’t make Hali sad, just couldn’t. He still refused to encourage her. He didn’t want to share her with anyone.

He couldn’t decide which one was worse.

Hali hummed in thought and he felt her shift her head. “I guess I’ll have to try. Can’t hurt to try, can it?” She said slowly, unsure. Katsuki didn’t answer, because yes, yes it would. It would hurt so bad.

Emotions swirled inside of him, jealousy, anger, possessiveness, insecurity, sadness, fear. He pushed his nails deeper into his palms. He didn’t want to think about it, about being replaced, forgotten, about not being good enough. About Hali putting him in second place.

“Hey Hali, what does your house look like?” He needed a subject change, something else to focus on. Anything.

Hali hummed beside him. She nibbled on her lip as she thought. “Well, let me think,” she said and closed her eyes.

“Well…” she began slowly. “Most of the time the sky is covered in grey clouds, we rarely get a clear blue sky,” as she talked Katsuki watched the sky trying to imagine it. The animal clouds popped and dispersed into thick grey mist. The mist spread and soon it covered the whole sky. Katsuki blinked. “We have a light brown wooden fence around the back yard,” just as Katsuki sat up and looked around the fence turned a lighter brown color, gave a shiver and turned into wood.

“The house is kind of small and square. Walls are some kind of yellowish-brown brick, some bricks are darker, windows have dark wood and bright white curtains, the roof is the same dark brown. Hm, maybe a bit more grayish. I dunno.” The light brown walls of Katsuki’s house gained a yellowish tint to them. White lines melted from the color and sank down, creating bricks. He watched as a few bricks darkened at random. He watched the house stretch before shrinking and turning a into a cube. The green curved roof flattened before turning angular and becoming a very dark brown.

“Oh, and the neighbor’s houses are pretty much the same and right next to ours.” Katsuki watched the six closest neighbor houses shrink and change before pretty much scooting right next to his, no, Hali’s house.

The slim tall windows inflated and he saw snow white curtains drop behind the glass, gently swaying before settling. He gaped. “Our backyard is also lots smaller. There are also more plants. There’s one big tree in one of the corners and there are a lot of flowers, all kinds, aunt Petunia really loves flowers. She makes me garden a lot, I don’t really mind. I like flowers too. There are big bushes of _hydrangeas_ under all the windows. There are also _begonias, primroses, roses, peonies, columbines_ and _aquilegias._ Oh, and one lone _lily_ behind the shed.”

Just as Katsuki watched the houses shrink he watched the plants around him inflate and bloom to life. Flowers of all kinds, shapes and colors popped open their petals. Where Katsuki’s garden was mostly composed of different shades of green Hali’s was an explosion of color. Katsuki’s garden had only one small and barley alive tsubaki bush, Hali’s looked like some sort of flower exhibition. Katsuki stared around himself perplexed, his head swiveling around quickly.

“Oh sorry, I guess English flower names don’t mean much to you,” he heard Hali’s voice, she sounded embarrassed and uncomfortable. “I forgot,” her eyes were still closed. Her damn eyes were still closed so she wasn’t aware of what she had just done. “Anyway-“

“Hali!” he snapped. “Open your damn eyes you idiot,” he growled. Bright green eyes snapped open and he watched the black circle shrink. “Look,” he told her, hand waving all around them at nothing and everything. He knew his eyes were wide.

Hali sat up, her head turning around slowly as she surveyed her surroundings. “Oh…” Hali whispered.

“Oh? Oh!?” He shouted at her. “Everything just changed and all you can say is oh! You just made the house shapeshift and all you have to say is oh!” He shouted at her.

“Erm,” she said awkwardly. “Ups?”

Katsuki stared at her in disbelief as she scratched at the back of her head and smiled awkwardly. “Oh, but, hey!” Hali suddenly shouted startling Katsuki and making him fall back on his butt. “I can show you around now! Come on!” And with that she grabbed his wrist and pulled him along. Katsuki had just barely managed to pull his feet under himself.

“You’ve seen the garden,” Hali talked happily as she pulled him along. “So, the first is the kitchen, aunt Petunia’s cooking is awesome! Oh and-“ Katsuki had had enough at that. He was not going to be pulled along like some, like some, some…like some damned extra character. He pulled on Hali’s hand making the girl stumble slightly in surprise. She stared at him, her mouth open. His brows were drawn together as he glared at their hands.

Katsuki quickly wiggled his wrist from her grip. A sad noise left Hali. He gave her a sharp glare as he entwined their fingers together and gave their connected hands a pointed, firm shake. Hali grinned widely at him at that. He glared in warning. “Come on,” she said and tugged on his wrist once to get him to move, she didn’t pull him along again.

“This is the kitchen,” Hali gave a wide, overdramatic sweep with her hand. Katsuki looked around, the kitchen looked old. No that wasn’t right, the stuff was fairly new looking, but the style of it was old. Everything was in dark wooden tones or some shade of an off-white color. And everything was to complicated, table legs weren’t simple wooden squares, they were carved and made up of many spheres and such shapes with curved ends. Everything was like that, too detailed, too complicated.

“And that is the candy cupboard,” Hali pointed at one of the top cupboards next to the fridge. “That’s where aunt Petunia hides candy, right behind the rice and pasta. When Vernon’s at work and aunt Petunia takes Dud with her to the store, I can get some, but I have to be quick about it.” She grinned widely at him, eyes closed with how wide and happy it was.

“This is the living room!” Hali grandly announced as they entered the next room. Katsuki glared at the disgusting flower-patterned couch, that thing was an insult. “Dud has a few games he plays on the tv, oh, we could play! Dud never lets me play, only watch,” Hali continued enthusiastically. Suddenly she twisted on her toes towards him, leaning towards him. “Or,” she trailed off. “Or we could go up to Dud’s room and play with his toys, he’s got lots,” she leaned back on her heals and gave a little bounce as she waited for his answer.

Katsuki’s brows drew together. Something was wrong here, it was all Dudley’s stuff she wanted to play with.

“What about your room?” He asked carefully. Hali’s smile fell and something heavy dropped into his stomach. This didn’t look good. She couldn’t be throwing him through another emotional loop, not so soon.

She gave a slow hum as she avoided his eyes. “I mean we could, but I’m not sure we would both fit in,” Hali explained as she finally met his eyes.

“What-“ his throat tightened, the words stuck. Katsuki swallowed and tried again. Dread pooled. “What do you mean?”

“There’s just not a lot of space is all.” No, no, she probably just had a small room and a big bed. Right? Or maybe a big wardrobe, or lots of boxes or something. Maybe it was just messy and she didn’t want him to see it.

“Thake me to your room Hali,” he demanded trying to sound harsh, trying not to sound desperate. She was just messing with him. He knew Vernon was an asshole, but her aunt took care of her, Hali said so herself. Petunia took care of her. She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t allow Vernon to lock Hali in a closet or something, she wouldn’t.

Hali bit her lip and her eyes trailed over his shoulder. Her eyes would dart quickly to his before returning to staring over his shoulder. She wasn’t just avoiding his eyes, he realized, she was looking at something behind him. He turned slowly and stared. The stairs? No, not the stairs, the cupboard under the stairs, the cupboard under the stairs that had a simple slide lock on the door. Why would you need a lock on a cupboard? He thought he knew, but he really didn’t want to admit it.

He let Hali’s fingers slowly slip from his hand as he walked towards the cupboard. This had to be a joke. He would open the door and there would be some sort of big room on the other side. This couldn’t be real.

They had a cupboard under their stairs, Katsuki remembered. It had a few things in it, some house decorations, an old lamp, his old toys, but mostly dust. Once Katsuki had demanded dad help him make a pillow fort in it. They had dragged almost all the pillows and blankets into it. It had been so awesome, small and dark and soft and secretive. Katsuki’s own hero agency. He’d demanded he be allowed to sleep in it.

The lock clicked ominously as he pulled it open.

He remembered how hot and stuffy it had gotten. He’d been in for barely half an hour before he had scrambled out and back to his bed. It had been absolutely awful. And the doors had been left wide open.

The doors creaked open.

There was nothing in the cupboard except for a bed and some dust. And the bed wasn’t even a bed, it was just a bunch of old pillows and blankets stuffed together under a thin, crinkled sheet. Katsuki’s teeth ground together, the only sound in the whole house. Rage consumed him. He had hoped, had hoped so much that this had been just a joke. That Hali’s family, her family for fucks sake, the people who were supposed to take care of her, that they were denying her something so simple, like a room.

He leaned his head against the wooden frame, nails digging in, as he tried not to explode. He wanted, fuck, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He didn’t want to just beat up her uncle and throw him into prison, like the villain he was. No, that wouldn’t be enough, he wanted to do more. He wanted to beat the man up, break his bones, return every bruise and scrape and burn he gave to Hali. He wanted to close him in a teeny tiny room overnight. Fuck, Hali slept here, and there was a lock on the door. Did they lock the doors? The wood creaked under his fingers.

“Suki?” He heard Hali call. Fuck what was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do?

“Suki?” She asked again and now there was a pair of poison green eyes staring up at him from under his arm. “Suki, it’s fine,” she reassured him, she fucking reassured him.

Why was she doing that? He was supposed to be the hero here, the one to reassure her, to tell her it will be fine. He was supposed to be _her hero_ , the one to save her, the one to take her away from these villa-, these monsters. She’d said so herself.

He flexed his jaw and took a hard swallow, trying to pull the rage back, to shove it down. His throat burned. “It’s really not,” he said slowly, eyes locked with hers, trying to make her understand. His only answer was a sad smile.

She tried to say something but he could already hear dad’s voice, could feel himself waking up. He blinked up at dad’s smiling face, he said something and Katsuki nodded automatically. He tried pushing his rage down, but as soon as Masaru was out of the room he snapped. He grabbed the first thing he could, an All Might figurine from his night stand. Something he had spent months begging his parents for, it was limited addition too. He didn’t care. With a loud rage filled shout he flung it at the wall and watched it shatter. His mother was screaming right back at him as soon as all the pieces were on the ground.

.

Harley had been cleaning the shower when the shouting started. Vernon’s booming voice seemed to rattle the very walls while aunt Petunia’s much quieter but sharp voice seemed to simply pass through any barrier. Still she was too far to hear actual words, they were arguing downstairs in the kitchen. She knew they would be angry if they found out she wasn’t doing her chores, but the curiosity was killing her.

She had never heard the two of them arguing with each other. She’d heard them complaining to each other about other people that annoyed them. She’d heard them shouting together at others. But never had she heard them arguing with each other.

She dropped the brush and slowly crept out of the bathroom, being very careful not to slam the doors and avoiding a very creaky floorboard. She crept down the hall towards the stairs, their voices becoming clearer with each step.

“-already done enough-“ Vernon’s voice carried.

“-people are starting to talk-“ Petunia’s voice cut through his words.

She looked down the stairs, Dud was already there. The boy was sitting on the middle step and leaning slightly to the left to hear better. If either Vernon or aunt Petunia looked from the kitchen doorway, they wouldn’t be able to see Dud, but he would be able to see them coming.

“I am not wasting any more money-“ Vernon boomed at Petunia.

She slowly walked down the stairs and sat on the step above Dudley. She gave the fat boy a questioning look but he just shushed her and gestured towards the kitchen. They both leaned in to listened.

“Listen to me Petunia! We have wasted enough money already!” He’d never called her by her full name before, it was always just Pet or honey or some other nickname. Vernon must have been very angry. Harley and Dudley exchanged terrified glances.

“No, you listen to me Vernon Richard Dursley!” Both children flinched back at Vernon’s full name, that was never a good sign. “People are starting to talk! And we are not looking good!” Petunia shouted. “She’s always seen in Dudley’s old clothes and people are starting to wonder. Wonder about us, Vernon! Most of it is about money, but a few, very few have been questioning how we treat her.”

“I don’t care about their bullshit, no one’s going to believe them!”

“Not for now they won’t, but the longer this goes on the louder those people will get.” Petunia explained patently. Both children were very aware about what the fight was about. Dud gave Harley a not so subtle glance.

“No! I’m not giving any more money for that, that freak, Petunia!”

“You will have to! This isn’t about her, Vernon, listen to me, this is about our reputation!” They heard Petunia give a long, tiered sigh.

“Why can’t you just tell them the same thing as before?” He demanded. Vernon was still angry, but it seemed like he was calming down now.

“Because it’s no longer believable.” Petunia sighed in exasperation, it felt like this wasn’t the first time she’d said that. “If anyone asked before I just told them we didn’t want her nice clothes to get dirty and torn. That excuse no longer works.”

“Why the hell not?”

“It’s like you don’t listen to me at all!” Petunia suddenly shouted, Harley and Dudley flinched back when they heard her hand smack against the table. “I’ve told you this before, Harley stays at the library while me and Dud are at the park,” she told him, her voice calm again. “My. Old. Excuse. No. Longer. Works.” She hissed out each word slowly as if that would make them easier to understand, for their meaning to sink in. “Helen is giving me looks, Vernon. Helen! She’s one of my closest friends and she’s starting to suspect something. She’s not stupid!”

A long deep sigh could be heard. “Fine,” Vernon said lowly. “Fine.” He repeated, firmer this time and angry again. “Tomorrow, after lunch, well go to town. You’ll buy the freak some clothes and I’ll take Dudley to look at video games.” Harley and Dudley exchanged quick grins before Harley had to scramble back to the bathroom. She really didn’t need either aunt Petunia or Vernon angry with her now. She would be left behind if they got angry.

And just as promised the next day they were driving to the town center for shopping. Dud had even bullied Vernon into coming home sooner.

Once they parked Vernon handed Harley’s aunt some money before he hurried after Dud, who had run off as soon as the car doors were open. Petunia took a moment to look after the two of them for a moment, a fond smile pulling at her lips. Then she turned to Harley and the smile was gone, indifference replaced fondness.

“Let’s get this over with,” she mumbled as she set off in the opposite direction to her husband and son. Harley glanced back towards Dud and Vernon, she could still Dudley’s happy shouts, then she hurried after her aunt.

Petunia took her to one of the smaller stores on the main streets. There were very few people among the shelves. Petunia took her through the store quickly, picking up seemingly random pieces of clothes. Harley had tried to pick up a few bright neon things but Petunia had quickly pulled her away.

Once aunt Petunia had her hands full of clothes, she dragged Harley towards the changing rooms. She made Harley try on clothes and then she would sort them into three different piles. A long flowy light blue dress with many small white flowers was put into the yes pile. A burnt red shirt went into the no pile. Some simple jeans joined the flower dress. A deep green shirt went into the maybe pile because aunt Petunia didn’t like the way it fell.

And so, on it went. Harley had started to feel like a dress up doll at some point. Some clothes complimented her eyes, some her hair, some looked funny on her frame, some made her look sick, some pale. A dirty pink dress made her look like a strawberry ice-cream and both Harley and Petunia had stared at it in disgust. Both of their brows furrowed int the exact same way.

At first, Harley had been stiff and unsure, but as Petunia had made her try on more and more clothes she had relaxed. Slowly she had started giving her own opinion and Petunia would sometimes nod and agree. Slowly aunt Petunia had started to smile. At some point they had started having fun. Had started enjoying themselves. One of them would make a funny comment about a shirt or a dress or pants and then they would both be laughing. A loud happy laugh.

Harley twirled in a knee length dark green dress, a wide happy grin stretched on across her lips. It was beautiful.

Petunia went to fetch a few things in different sizes while Harley stared at herself in the mirror. The dress was beautiful, the best thing the had found so far. It came in at her waist and then puffed out into a wide skirt. And if Harley twirled fast enough it would rise up in a circle. The color made her eyes stand out, made them sparkle. A sad smile came onto her face as she stared at Petunia’s figure in the mirror.

It was easy to pretend, to pretend she was here with her own mom, not aunt Petunia. She could just imagine her.

Petunia had said that she looked a lot like her mother. Harley imagined her mom to be tall, like Petunia. She would have Harley’s messy red curls and aunt Petunia’s icy eyes. Except her eyes would be warm as she looked at Harley. Her mom’s eyes would be fond as she smiled at her and Harley would feel safe and loved and warm, not just barely tolerated. Not like an unwanted pet.

She caught sight of a mom entering the store with her daughter.

Harley didn’t even know her mom’s name.

“Alright, I have the jeans and the blue shirt. I’m afraid the skirt was the last one. So just try these and then we can pay.” As aunt Petunia carried the two items to their changing room, Harley looked back to the mirror. Her smile had fallen and her eyes were sad, tears shimmering just at the edges.

“Aunt Petunia,” she said lowly her voice unsure. She was treated to a happy hum. Harley bit her lip. She didn’t want to ruin this, but she had to know. She just had to. “What was my mom’s name?” She whispered.

Petunia’s eyes snapped to her, her happy mood gone. Harley avoided her eyes. Petunia sighed as her hand went to the thin golden chain around her neck. A long moment of silence came between them. Petunia twirled the gold chain between her fingers and Harley merely stared at the mirror. Harley had already given up on getting and answer when Petunia responded.

“Lily,” it was barely above a whisper. And Harley looked up quickly. Their eyes met. There was something wistful and nostalgic in Petunia’s eyes. “Her name was Lily.”

“Lily,” Harley said the name slowly, tasting it almost. “Like the flower?” She twisted her head back over her shoulder to look up at aunt Petunia. A nod and a small smile were her answer.

“Like your name, Petunia.” She continued quickly. “And like grandma’s name, Poppy.” Harley bit her lip in thought. “Is that tradition in our family.” She twirled around to look at aunt Petunia, her dress rising up happily, but Harley ignored it for now.

Petunia’s brow twitched up. “It is. Your great-grandmother’s name was Heather and her sister was Daisy.”

Harley’s brows drew together. “I’ve never heard of a flower named harley.” Petunia hummed, amusement entering her eye. “Why is that?” Asked Harley now frowning.

Petunia gave an amused hum. “Your middle name is Dahlia.”

“But why my middle name, why not my name?” Asked Harley, it made no sense to her. “Did my dad not want my name to be Dahlia?”

Petunia gave a small little amused snort. “It had nothing to do with your father.”

“Then why?” Harley whined, frustrated.

Petunia smiled at her. “Your mom and dad had agreed to name you Dahlia, for your mom’s tradition. The Potter’s didn’t have a naming tradition so they decided your middle name would be Astrid, for your godfather. His family named their kids after stars and constellations and such.” Petunia started the story.

“What happened?” asked Harley. Excitement was clear in her voice. This was the first story she had ever heard about her parents. And she had a godfather!

“Well, when you were born your parents had to give in the papers to name you, official documents that is, so they asked your godfather to hand them in.” Petunia’s nose wiggled and there was something almost fond in her eye. “Except they forgot that your godfather thought himself a funny man. Instead of just handing the papers in he decided to change your name.”

“No! He didn’t!” Harley shouted, she couldn’t believe this.

“He did and so you became Harley Dahlia Potter. Your mother almost killed him right then and there, three people had to hold her back while your godfather ran away with his tail between his legs. One of the best moments of my life.” Petunia was outright grinning at her now. “Even your father was mad. He was banned from seeing you for three whole months after you were born.”

“Why did they let him see me after that?”

“He’d spent a whole day howling at their door.” Petunia out right laughed at that. “Now come on, you still have to try these two.” Petunia handed her the shirt and the jeans before pushing her towards the changing room. Then something occurred to Harley.

“But why Harley?” Petunia halted and frowned.

“Oh, well, that would be after Harley-Davidson.”

“Harley-Davidson? But that sounds like a boy name.” Harley frowned up at her aunt. Petunia was somewhere between amused and disgusted.

“Your dear funny godfather was very into motorcycles back then and Harley-Davidson is a brand of motorcycles.”

“He named me after a bike!” Shouted Harley appalled.

“Unfortunately, as I said your godfather thought he was funny.” She said before pushing her back towards the changing room. “Now come on, we don’t have much more time before we have to go.”

.

Katsuki was in a bad mood, but that was nothing new. He’d been in a bad mood for a whole week now. There were two reasons for this. His general anger at Hali’s so-called family and, he refused to admit this, his insecurity. Hali had started trying to befriend the mousy library girl and would often retell the happenings from the library to Katsuki. She would always be so happy about the whole thing that Katsuki just couldn’t bring himself to ruin her mood. He couldn’t ruin her mood and he didn’t want to show her how much this actually bothered him.

It felt like he was being left behind, like he wasn’t enough for her. Some small part of him was aware of how ridiculous he was being. Another part wanted to find the bitch and snarl in her face. He wanted to tell her just how much more he meant to Hali and how she would never have what they had.

Anger plus insecurity resulted in a very unfriendly Katsuki. He was communicating solely through growling and snarling at this point.

Unsurprisingly his mother had quite enough of his behavior.

“That is enough,” her hand smacked the table as she leaned towards her son and growled. “You will tell us what is wrong with you right this instant.” She demanded.

Katsuki snarled right back. “It’s none of your damn business, hag!”

“It is my business! You’ve been a right little shit this whole week and it’s getting annoying. Your teachers are starting to complain!” Mitsuki yelled at him. “We though we were done with this shit but you are just getting worse and worse!”

Katsuki glared at her, his lips sealed. He didn’t need her sticking her nose in it!

“Tell me what is wrong you little gremlin!”

“No!”

“Katsuki I swear-“

“I said no!” Katsuki yelled at her and smacked his hand on the table, just like she had done so many times. There was a loud boom and cracking, a smell of burning wood rose up in the air, with some sweet smell hidden under it. Both Mitsuki and Katsuki stared wide eyed at each other. They slowly looked to Katsuki’s hand on the table.

The table was burnt black, dark smoke was rising from between Katsuki’s fingers. He lifted his hand. Small bits of charred wood fell away. He looked at his palm. There was nothing, not even a scratch. His skin was tingling, and he could smell something sweet now.

He focused. Three small pops appeared in his palm.

His quirk just manifested.

And it was the best damned quirk ever.

Just like Katsuki thought it would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Universe:** There have been some questions about whether this story was happening in one universe or two. It is two. I have my reasons and I can share them with you if you want.
> 
> **Tsubaki bush:** Tsubaki (camellia), flowers in Japan mean humility and discretion (and also perfect love but thas less important). So, there being one very sad tsubaki bush in Bakugo’s garden tickled my funny bone.
> 
> **Quirks:** I need throwaway quirks, any ideas?
> 
> **Angst and fluff:** Someone mentioned that I have a good balance of fluff and angst so I’m shamelessly gonna use that to throw a bit of writing advice at you. If you are writing an angst story, don’t make it just angsty. If you want a good angst story you need throw some warm fluffy bits in there. It lightens the mood a bit, makes the reader more attached to the characters and you don’t have to make it as angsty to get the same reaction. If you have just angst in your story you need to up the angst scale constantly. Pure angst is fine in short one-shots, but as soon as it’s a longer you need those little pauses in between all the angst. Let the reader breathe for a moment, then smack ’em again, it will hurt more that way.
> 
> **Info dumps:** Some one also mentioned that I have no info dumps, so here is some more shameless writing advice with Sanguine-sensei. (I cringed at that.) NEVER FUCKING INFO DUMP. No one likes info dumps, they are boring. Just look at old Russian novels, the story is amazing, but they all start with a gigantic multichapter info dump so no one likes reading them. Spread it people, use different methods, mix and match guys.  
> Here are a few methods:  
> \- you as the narrator give the info (give as much info as you like, most likely to info dump, don’t use too much, good for worldbuilding)  
> \- characters talking about the thing (be realistic, the characters wouldn’t know every single detail, but can give general info, possibility to throw in fake info)  
> \- finding out with the character (books, scrolls, research, old walls, have the character read out the info and comment on it)  
> \- old legend given by the village crazy old person (possibly crazy old blind person, again can be false info, it is an old legend, but it does lead the character to a new discovery that is true, a god of old lives in that cave turns out it’s just drunk wizard Carl and we need Carl for the adventure he knows where the big bobbied statue is)  
> \- character literally stumbling into the info (character trips and falls, oh would you look at that werewolves do exist).


	5. Quirk me up

Katsuki glared at the doctor as he came towards him with a long cotton swab.

“Now then, Katsuki-chan, if you could just open your mouth,” the old man smiled gently at him, his eyes getting squished under his puffy cheeks and thick brows. How could this old fart see? A quirk maybe…

Red eyes narrowed and Katsuki crossed his arms in defiance.

“Now, now, Katsuki-chan, I know you don’t like this but I really need a swab from your mouth.”

The doctor smiled wider and Katsuki glared harder.

There was no way he was letting this dirty old man stick that disgusting thing in his throat. That shit was uncomfortable. He’d been sick once and the doctor had needed a swab of his saliva. Last time he trusted a damn doctor. At least he wouldn’t be sticking one of those things up his nose, that was even worse. Doctors were the worst.

“Oh, for fucks sake!”

His mom snapped at them both. Suddenly there were fingers prying his jaw open. He growled at her and tried to bite her fingers. “Bakugo-san I don’t think that’s-“ the doctor protested. The old man seemed very nervous, sweat gathered at his brow, as he watched the two Bakugos struggling with each other. They had to be his worst patients. There was no way there was someone worse than them.

“Shut up!” Mitsuki snapped and the doctor flinched back at her sharp tone. “Open up you shit!” Katsuki sputtered something back at her, a lot of loud noises as her damned fingers were still between his teeth. With a louder growl mom pried his jaw wide open. “Now!” She shouted at the doctor. The man startled and almost dropped the swab in his hurry. Katsuki clawed at Mitsuki’s hands leaving long red trails behind. He choked and gagged when he felt that fucking torture device scrape against the back of his throat.

The doctor let out a delighted noise and mom’s fingers disappeared from his mouth. His jaw snapped shut with a crack of protest, that hurt Kami dammit. He glared, and the old hag glared back. He would get revenge for this. He would, watch him do it. The woman growled at him in warning, as if able to read his thoughts. Katsuki growled back.

“Now then, we should have the full results in two days,” the doctor interrupted their growling as he carried the swab out of Katsuki’s sight. If it wouldn’t result in more torture Katsuki would have showed the damn swab up the doctor’s nose, see how he likes it. Mitsuki asked the man a few questions, which Katsuki gladly ignored.

Worst doctor visit ever, they didn’t even need to be here. He wasn’t sick and he already knew what his quirk could do, the hell would this big nosed asshole find out. _‘Well, guess what Katsuki-chan! You can make explosions with your hands!’_ As if he didn’t know that. Pathetic. But no, mom had snatched him by the back of his shirt, threw him in the back of the car and drove off with dad awkwardly waving them off.

And all because he _had to_ be checked over by a doctor. What if there were some side effects they didn’t know about? What if he could do other things? They needed to know exactly how he was making explosions. What if blah blah blah…?

Bullshit all of it. Useless bullshit at that.

All he wanted to do was go to sleep and show Hali how awesome he was, how cool his quirk was. And he would have done so if he was sure she would be there. They had to both be asleep to go to their shared dream space. So, going to sleep would be useless, he would have to wait for night to fall and that was already grating enough on its own. But no, that wasn’t enough, his mom had to drag him to the doctor to get poked and prodded.

He hissed when the doctor turned away from his mom and smiled down at him. Disturbingly cheerful old bastard. “Don’t worry Katsuki-chan, we are done for the day. You can go and show off to all of your little friends now.” The doctor told him gently and he only glared back, he still didn’t like the old man. “I would urge you not to force your quirk beyond what feels comfortable, it might have very bad consequences,” the doctor gave him a solemn look. He saw mom throw him a worried look. “Do I have your word you won’t force it?”

Katsuki continued to glare for a long moment before giving a sharp nod. He was NOT risking his hero career, even if he hated the doctor.

“Excellent!” The doctor clapped his hands together happily. “Now I believe your favorite was cherry, right Katsuki-chan?” And with that he handed him a red lollipop. Like that was going to warm him up to the bastard. Hell no! The idiot would have to make more effort to gain back Katsuki’s trust after this torture.

The doctor promise to call Mitsuki as soon as the results were in and Katsuki took the lollipop anyway.

.

Katsuki was forced to wait to show off to Hali. He was tempted to just jump into bed and try and force the dream. He had to show her how awesome his quirk was. She would be so impressed he was sure. He had the best quirk ever. Hali didn’t even have her quirk yet. He wondered what it would be.

It would have to be a cool one too, not as cool as his but still cooler than everyone else’s. She couldn't have some lame quirk, it wouldn't fit with her personality. Hali was too special for some lame quirk.

He thought about what Hali’s quirk might be. She hadn't said anything about the quirks her relatives had, usually families had similar or at least related quirks. Hmm, he could imagine her with some sort of climbing quirk. A part monkey or even lizard. He snickered when he imagined Hali with a long red monkey tail, she would be able to hang upside down with it. Or even part lizard Hali licking her eyeball, he'd seen a lizard do it once. He swears!

But no, those would be too lame, too weak, too common. Hali needed something better. He could see her with some type of plant quirk. Hali loved gardening and flowers, big blossoms with as many colors as would fit. Maybe controlling plants or even helping them grow. She would have flowers growing out of her head, Hali loved flowers. She would have so many, of all shapes and colors. They would twist among her curls. And she would totally have small wines too! Twisting along red curls with small blue flowers. She would be able to make trees grow really, really fast so she would be able to protect people from falling buildings and stuff. Yeah, he could see it.

It wasn't a quirk he'd want for himself, it wasn’t flashy enough, but it would fit Hali. Something like that would fit her so well. He couldn't imagine her with some strong fighting quirk like his. Something more supportive would fit her, he thought. And then they could be the best hero duo ever. Yeah that would work.

When they grew up, the first thing he would do would be saving Hali from her villainous relatives. He would kick Vernon's ass and lock him in jail. And she would come to live with him here in japan. And they would be the best hero team ever. He nodded to himself. It sounded like a good plan to him. Perfect almost. If only he could save her now.

"Oi! Katsuki!" He heard someone call. He lifted his head and saw his usual group of playground friends already gathered and waiting for him. Buck-teeth was waving at him together with Izuku, with Fatso right behind them.

He called a quick bye to his mom as she went to join auntie at the bench, while he continued walking towards his friends.

"Look, look, Katsuki, look!" Buck-teeth called to Katsuki all excited as he joined the small group. And then his fingers extended beyond their normal length. "My quirk showed up last night!" The prat bragged to Katsuki about his shitty quirk. "I was reaching for a cookie, except it was just out of my reach, and then, and then my fingers got really, really long and I was able to get the cookie," the kid bragged.

"That's so cool!" Izuku squealed excitedly. That idiot got overexcited over any lame everyday quirk. Just wait until he saw what Katsuki could do. Izuku was going to lose his mind.

Buck teeth harrumphed and lifted his nose up in pride as Izuku gushed about his quirk, jumping around the boy in excitement. Izuku kept babbling about this and that, asking all kinds of questions, eyes wide and excited. Were…were those sparkles around Izuku’s head? Katsuki shook his head, he must be seeing things. "Guess that makes me the only one, out of the four of us, with a quirk." The brat said, and why did that feel like a dig at Katsuki. Oh yeah, maybe the smug smile the ass was directing at him. As if his lame quirk was something to brag about. Pathetic, just like the rest of them.

"Guess again, Sticky fingers!" Katsuki snapped back with a grin that was almost bloodthirsty. Almost, he swears. And with that he extended his hand and let off a few small sparks. Izuku's squeal was even higher, the boy already jumping around Katsuki in excitement. "I made the table explode this morning," he bragged to the brat. Reaching for a cookie, Katsuki had to scoff at that.

"Kacchan, that's so cool!" Izuku squealed as he grabbed his hand and stared at it as if he would be able to see something. As if he could read the secrets of the universe from Katsuki’s palm. Buck-teeth's smile feel away slowly as Izuku continued to gush about Katsuki and his quirk and what a great hero he was gonna be with a cool quirk like that.

Katsuki only grinned wider. Oh yeah, he couldn't wait to tell Hali.

.

Harley was lying on her back in the middle of the playground staring at the sky. There was a mouse cloud that was running circles across the blue surface, far away from a napping cat cloud. She never quite understood the clouds in their little dream space. They were always something different.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her dress fluttered around her legs in the light breeze. It was kind of weird wearing a dress. She liked wearing them, they made her look pretty, but it still unsettled her when she felt the big skirt flutter and tickle her legs. It would take some getting used to. Would it get in the way when she ran? Eh, she would have to get used to it.

She opened her eyes and watched as the mouse cloud circled the cat cloud, cat's tail flicking in annoyance. Brave little cloud. Suki wasn't here yet. She frowned up at the sky, she really wanted to show off her dress and tell him the story aunt Petunia told her, about her crazy godfather and her name. Oh, and her mom’s name. Lilly. It was such a pretty name. Unlike her own. She pouted at the sky. Stupid godfather.

She couldn't lie, she felt a spark of anger at the man. Anger because he named her after a bike and because he broke a long naming tradition from mom's family. It made her feel like she was separated from her mother’s side of the family in some way, like she didn't quite fit in. The odd one out. Just another reminder that she didn’t quite fit in with her family. It made her feel lonely.

"Hali!" she heard Suki shout from above her. She twisted her upper body so she could look at him. She saw him running towards her upside down, a wide grin on his face, excitement clear in his every step. She grinned right back. At least she would always have Suki with her. She quickly scrambled up...only to be tackled right back to the ground when Suki tripped and stumbled into her.

They both yelped loudly when their foreheads met with a loud clank. Almost simultaneously they both groaned and covered their foreheads with their hands. Suki sat up with a wine while Harley sank right back down into the grass. They both groaned and rubbed at the hurt spot. And then almost in synch they both jumped back up towards each other and yelled.

“I’ve got something to tell you!”

The two leaned back and blinked. Well, that was a bit weird. Harley shook her head and quickly jumped to her feet. “Look! Look! Suki!” She babbled at her friend with a wide grin and followed it with a wide twirl so her dress would lift in a wide circle. She would never get over that part.

“Aunt Petunia bought it for me! She made Vernon take us to the store and everything. She bought me other clothes too! New ones! No more Dudley’s old clothes! Shirts and pants, and skirts and even other dresses. One of them is pink with little white flowers and ruffles at the bottom. It’s so pretty! Oh! Oh! And she told me this story about my godfather, did you know I have a godfather, I didn’t. Oh, and my mom’s name was Lily like the flower! And that’s a tradition in our family! Being named after flowers. How cool is that! That’s the story…” Harley finally calmed down enough to realize Suki hadn’t said a word at all.

She stopped her twirling to look at Suki. Suki who was sitting there, staring at her, wide eyed and pink cheeked. “Suki? Are you okay?” She asked, worried now, her Suki was never this quiet, no, never. Maybe he was sick.

“You look like a _girl_ …” He mumbled while staring at her.

“Well…yeah,” she answered slowly, carefully, all excitement gone now. This was the first time Suki had seen her in a dress, the first she’d ever worn one, actually. And it hadn’t occurred to her at the time, but what if he wouldn’t be her friend now.

Most boys were like that. They didn’t want to play with girls because girls were icky and didn’t want to play with the ball or in the mud. What if Suki was like that? What if he thought that girls were icky? What if he thought she was icky now?

“You…you don’t like it?” She asked slowly, terrified of his answer, her eyes locked on the grass between her feet. Was he gonna stop being her friend now? What if she lost her best friend because of a stupid dress? Then she didn’t want it! She would rather dress in Dudley’s torn old clothes than lose Suki. Her lip wobbled and she bit down on it. Suki didn’t like it when people cried, she didn’t like it when people cried. She refused to cry! This wasn’t something to cry about. It wasn’t!

Why was the grass blurry?

.

“You…you don’t like it?” Hali stuttered the question out. It felt like his brain blacked out for a moment. Hali was wearing a dress. Hali was a girl. Well, he knew Hali was a girl, somewhere in the back of his mind. He knew she was a girl, but she’d never been a _girl_. Hali was a friend who just happened to be a girl. Hali was never a _girl_. _Girls_ wore pretty dresses, played with dolls and screamed really, really loudly when you showed them a bug. Hali didn't act like that. 

Hali climbed trees, scraped her knees, rolled around in the dirt with him, wrestled and played catch and football.

His brain just couldn't understand. Would she still play ball with him? Wrestle? Would she still be his friend?

And then he noticed her stance. Her head was bowed, red curls falling in front of her face, hiding it. That was Izuku’s 'I’m crying but trying to hide it' pose. Harley never stood like that. She never cried. She just didn’t.

_'You... You don't like it?'_

Was she really crying over something so stupid!? No. No, Hali didn't cry over anything. Hali didn't cry when their wrestling got just a bit too heated. Hali didn't cry when she landed wrong on her hand. Hali didn't cry when that gremlin cousin of hers and his friends picked on her. Hali didn't cry when that villainous uncle of hers hit her. And Hali wasn't going to cry over a stupid dress. 

He wasn't going to allow it! 

Which is exactly why he stood up and leaned over at an awkward angle just so he could glare up into Hali’s eyes. Hali’s murky eyes with tears just ready to spill over. At least there wasn't any snot like with Izuku. Stupid Izuku. And stupid dress!

"Oi!" He yelled at her and her eyes widened in surprise, few tears finally spilling over. "Are you really crying over a stupid dress!?" He snapped at her. He couldn’t believe her. Crying over something so unimportant.

"N-no!" Hali yelped as she leaned back away from him. 

"Liar!" 

"I'm-m not a l-liar!" Her voice was getting stronger but there were still tears in her eyes and a hiccup in her breath. 

"You're lying! Why else would you be crying!?" He saw no other reason.

"Because now you won't be my friend anymore!" She yelled back so loudly she surprised them both. 

There was a long moment of silence where they just stared at one another. "Eh!? When the hell did I say that?! Are you stupid?" 

Hali mumbled something. 

"Eh? What was that stupid?" 

"I said, you won’t be my friend because I’m a _girl_ now!” She yelled and then immediately looked away, cheeks red and eyes wet. She was frustrated now, he could see. Good, he could deal with a frustrated Hali, not a crying one. Never a crying one.

“You really are stupid. You’ve always been a girl,” Katsuki snorted at her.

“You know what I mean.” Hali mumbled, still avoiding looking at him and pulling at her dress meaningfully. Yes, Katsuki did know what she meant, but he wasn’t about to admit that he was worried about the same stupid thing, especially not after he yelled at her because of it. Still…his questions were still there. Would things change between them now?

Katsuki kicked at the dirt before looking back towards Hali. “Are you…” Immediately Hali looked up at him, bright green eyes murky with unshed tears. Tears of frustration or left-over tears of sadness, he didn’t know and didn’t much care. Katsuki looked away, he hated it. He hated seeing Hali cry, it didn’t feel right and it made him feel funny, all squirmy and stuff. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all. “Are you going to start screaming when you see a bug now?” He asked slowly, still looking away from Hali.

“…no,” she said with a sniff. She sounded confused by the question.

“You going to start crying every time we wrestle?”

“No.” Her voice was firm now. Good.

“Then…then I don’t care that you wear a dress…I guess.” He huffed at her, finally meeting her eyes. She was rubbing the tears from her eyes but there was a large smile on her face. Katsuki’s shoulders relaxed. It felt like some weight dropped away from them.

“Okay.” She said with a wide bright grin and Katsuki gave one of his toothy mean ones in return. “Oh, Suki, what about you?” She added after a quiet minute.

“Eh, what? I’m not wearing a dress!” He snarled at her. He was not wearing a dress! He refused. Just because Hali was fine wearing one, and just because he was fine with her wearing one didn’t mean he was going to wear one. No! Just no.

“No, I mean what were you going to tell me?”

“Oh?” He said in surprise, he had totally forgotten. He forgot! He got a quirk and he forgot about it! Stupid dress! And stupid crying Hali, making him forget. “Oh, look!” He shouted, his toothy grin back in place. “Look! Hali, look!” He yelled as he bounced closer to the redhead. Once he was right in front of her, he held up his hand, palm up, and made a few small sparks and crackles go off. Hali’s eyes widened in wonder as she stared.

“Wow! That’s so cool!” She exclaimed, all excited now, their fight already forgotten. “How are you doing that?” She whispered as she grabbed at his fingers and leaned forward to see better.

“It’s my quirk,” he said proudly.

“Quirk?”

“Yeah, you know like a power, like heroes have,” he explained best he could. Hali tilted her head to the side as she stared at him, brows drawn together in thought.

“Like a superpower?”

“Yeah! Like a superpower,” superpowers were something from old cartoons, weren’t they? It’s how they referred to quirks before quirks became a thing. Some cartoon still used the word.

Harley crossed her arms across her chest, expression thoughtful. “How can you have superpowers? Are you a mutant?”

“A what now?”

“A mutant. Like X-men,” she explained. “From the comics,” she added at his confused expression.

“No! Like everyone else. It’s a quirk, you know, like everyone else has.”

“No, no one has these…” she waved her arm at his palm. “These quirks.”

“What are you talking about? Everyone has quirks.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yah-uh. Quirks have been around for years. Like lots of years,” Katsuki thought about it for a second. What was the word for it? Oh yeah! “For like more than a century.” Hali shook her head in denial. “Yes, they have!” Why was she being so stubborn over this? “They’ve been around since like 1977, or something,” Katsuki wasn’t sure that was the right year, but Izuku had mumbled about it more than once, so he was inclined to trust the nerd.

“Ha!” Hali exclaimed as if she’d just won something. “Suki can’t even count! 1977 was only…” Harley started counting something on her fingers. “…it was only 7 years ago!” She gave him a winning smile. As if she was right! And yes, he could so count!

“Who can’t count, you idiot?! No way. It wasn’t only 7 years ago. It was like…” Katsuki started counting on his own fingers. So, here was…one, two, three...and then it carried over…how do numbers even work? “…it was at least 100 years!” So, he didn’t know the exact number, but there was no way it was only 7 years ago. No way! He wasn’t that bad at counting.

“See you can’t count!”

“Yes, I can shut up!” Katsuki yelled as he tried counting again. Hali said 7 years so…78, 79…then it went 80…right? Yes! So, 81, 82, 83 and 84. And that was way too little. You needed to get to at least 2100! Right? What was Hali talking about 7 was way, way too little. And then something occurred to him, something very bad.

He stared blankly at his fingers. “Hali…” he began, “…what year is it?” Hali looked at him, clearly confused now.

“Aunty Petunia said it was 1984.” That was no good, no good at all.

“It’s 2108 for me,” he said slowly before looking up at her. She was confused for only a second before her eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

“No way! How would…” she trailed off. He didn’t know either.

“Are we…from different times or something?” He asked quietly. He hoped Harley knew what this meant he really, really did. Hali was smart, like smarter than Izuku levels of smart. And as much as it pained him to admit it, Izuku was very smart.

“Hmm…” Hali scratched at the tip of her nose as she thought. “Oh, I know!” She exclaimed suddenly startling him. “It’s like in Dud’s comic!”

“It is?” He asked, sceptical. Again, with the comics…

“Mhm,” she nodded with a grin. “In this one comic, Dud said that there were two Wolverines because one was from an alt-al-alter…from a different Earth! Right, so that’s how it’s with us! I’m from one Earth you are from another!” Katsuki tilted his head in thought. Could that be true? Two different earths? It would explain some things. Like how Hali didn’t know about quirks and different years. Honestly, it didn’t sound impossible to him.

“Right, so that’s why you don’t know about quirks…your Earth doesn’t have them.” Hali nodded quickly at him, hair flying around her head. Right, it made sense, didn’t it? But…

Katsuki stared at his palms. How was he supposed to save her now? If she’d just lived in England, one on the same Earth, he could have done it. He just needed to grow up, buy a plane ticket and travel there, but now… How would you travel from one Earth to another? He doubted there was a flight from Japan to Earth number 2. They couldn’t meet now, could they? And there was no way of them becoming a Hero pair, not only was Hali on a different Earth, but she also wouldn’t get a quirk. She couldn’t be a hero without a quirk.

“Hey, hey Suki what’s wrong?” Suddenly Hali’s face was right in front of him, her expression worried. She was worried for him. How typically Hali, she was the one worse off, yet she was worried about him. Worried about him because he was worried about her.

“How am I supposed to save you now?” He mumbled at her. That was the biggest problem, they didn’t need to be hero partners. He just needed her safe and away from her villainous uncle. Maybe Hali didn’t want to be a hero anyway, so her not having a quirk wouldn’t be a problem.

Her face fell. “Oh…” she said lowly as she seemed to realise what he was saying. “Well...” she tried but didn’t know how to finish. Hali chewed on her lip. “Well…in the comics it happened, right?” She asked finally.

“Those are just comics Hali…”

“Yes, but listen,” she exclaimed excited suddenly. “You said everyone had these, these quirks, right?” She asked. Katsuki just nodded brows drawn together. Where was she going with this? “And everyone has a different one, right?”

“Yes…” he answered slowly still not getting it. Hali started bouncing in place from her excitement. As if she got a whole chocolate cake just for herself and someone told her that Christmas came early.

“So, someone could have a quirk that allows them to go from one Earth to another!” She grinned at him, all teeth on display. “So, we just have to find that one person!”

Katsuki grinned right back. “Yeah!” He could still save Hali! Yes, it was a bit more complicated than just buying a plane ticket, but the important part was that he could still help her. He could still save her!

And then something occurred to him. He looked around at their dream space. At the swings and trees and houses. This wasn’t normal was it. It looked like the work of a quirk. But it wasn’t his quirk, was it? He could make explosions with his palms, not a whole dream space. No, this was someone else’s quirk…He was so stupid! How didn’t he see this before! It was so obvious! The dream space, and the way that Hali’s relatives treated her. It all made sense now!

“Hali!” He yelled, as he grabbed her by the shoulders, startling her badly. “You said that your relatives treat you badly, right? Because you are different.”

“Y-yeah…”

“What if it’s because of your dad?!”

“My dad?” He nodded at her.

“Yeah! Listen, what if your dad was born on my Earth. And his quirk allowed him to go to your Earth, and then he fell in love with your mom and stayed.” He grinned at her, all wide and bright.

“That would make sense…” She trailed off. “That could be why aunty and uncle don’t like me, why they call me a fr-freak.” She stuttered at the word, and Katsuki swore to himself to hit Vernon extra hard for calling her that. Hali was NOT a freak.

“Yeah and this is your quirk,” he waved around them. “And, and you might have other relatives on my Earth! And they might have the type of quirk we need to get you to my Earth. We just have to find them.” That could be their starting point. Sure, it wasn’t guarantied that her relatives would have the sort of Earth hopping quirk they needed, but it was very likely. Families usually had similar or at least related quirks. And if her dad could hop from one Earth to another all willy-nilly, who’s to say Hali’s grandma, for example, couldn’t do something similar. It could work. They would make it work.

“Yeah! That would work.” She nodded at him and grinned.

This wasn’t the sort of quirk he envisioned Hali having. Making a dream space for two people to share. She wouldn’t be able to become a hero with it, and so they couldn’t be hero partners, but at least this meant that there was a way of getting Hali to him. Of saving her and that was all that mattered to him.

.

Harley stared at the dark wooden doors of the library. She was dressed in a baby pink shirt and a dark blue, almost black, skirt with tiny pink flowers on it. It was very girly, and she adored it.

Today was the day. The day she starts her ‘Befriend Jen from the library’ plan. Okay so she didn’t have an actual plan, just the vague outline of one. Okay so it was basically talk to Jen, magic friendship stuff, end result best friends.

“Alright, I will come and pick you up in a few hours,” aunt Petunia said from behind her and Harley leaned back and twisted her head so she could look up at the woman. “Behave,” Petunia ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. I will see you soon.” Aunt Petunia gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze before turning away and guiding Dudley to the playground. Petunia had seemed…warmer these last few days. Ever since that shopping trip it seemed like the ice had melted from her eyes. She still treated Harley the same way, like an unwanted pet, but now there were moments like these. Shoulder squeezes, head pats, small words of praise, she’d even brushed and braided Harley’s hair once. It felt…good. It felt really good. Harley didn’t feel like such an outsider anymore.

Harley turned away, there were more pressing things to think about. Like how to talk to Jen.

“Hello Miss Helen!” Harley greeted the woman with a bright smile and a low voice. Miss Helen hated loud noises in the library, and she was scary when angry.

“Hello dear.” Helen greeted her with a small smile, more of a twitch of her lips before she went back to her book. A thick tome with dark brown covers and glossy words too long for Harley to even spell out much less read.

Alright, now onto her master plan. How to start talking to Jen? Well, what did she know about the girl? She was vey quiet, very shy, she liked to read and…and that was it. How was she supposed to talk to the girl?! How did one talk to girls?! She only talked to boys before. Suki and Dud mostly, Dud’s gang on occasion, when they weren’t little shits.

She had talked to Jen once. She’d asked for a book. It was a very short conversation, granted, but it still counted. It did! It so did. So, asking about another book? Maybe asking if Jen had a favourite book, or if she knew a good book Harley could read. But that would all be short conversations! Harley didn’t want that. She wanted an actual conversation not, what was the word aunt Petunia used…chitchat?

Hm, what to do? What to do? Oh! She had an idea, now if only it would work. But first she needed a book, a specific book. It was a big book, for the child section that is, dark red covers with golden letters. It was a collection of fairy tales. Little red riding hood, Cinderella, Snow white, Rapunzel and so on. All tales Harley had read before, but she’d read them in books with few words and many pictures. This book had only one picture per story and many words Harley had trouble saying.

She’d seen Jen reading it before, blue eyes locked on the pages. So, she must understand all the words in it! This gave Harley the perfect excuse to start talking to the girl. All she had to do was ask Jen to help her read the book. Harley gave a sharp nod as she stared at the book in her hands. It was the perfect plan.

She hugged the book close and with a smile walked towards the pillow section. Then she saw Jen and panic set in. What if she messed this up?! What if Jen refused to help her?! What if the other girl never talked to her again?!

Dark blue eyes locked onto her and Harley had to steel herself. It was now or never.

“H-hey…” she stuttered. Abort mission! This wasn’t going to work. She was already messing this up! Abort! “Uhm…I was just wondering…” she flinched. “I-I mean could you…” How does one even sentence? She swallowed, too late to run away now, better to just get it over with. “I’m having some trouble reading this one, some words are too long, so I was wondering if you could help me read it, I saw you reading it before, so I guess you understand it. If you don’t wanna I understand.” She got the whole thing out as quickly as possible. She’d never befriended anyone, other than Katsuki. How could others do this?!

“Uhm…” Jen started, before averting her eyes. “Wouldn’t it be better if you asked Miss Helen? She knows more than me.” It was said in such a soft, low tone Harley had to stop breathing just to hear the girl. Crap! She hadn’t thought about that.

“W-well, yeah, but, but Miss Helen is kinda scary.” That was a good excuse, right?

“I g-guess,” Jen answered slowly. A long moment of silence passed between them, Harley was just about ready to bolt and never return. “Okay.”

“Wah…yeah okay, great.” Harley grinned in relief. Mission accomplished! She dropped down next to Jen and opened the book. “Right so my favourite is Rapunzel, so can we start with that one?”

Jen gave a small shy smile. “Really? Mine too.” Harley’s grin got wider. Yes! Something to talk about with the girl.

“That’s awesome. My favourite part is-“

Harley was going to make another friend just you watch her!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Getting together early:** When I said I was thinking on having them get together early I DID NOT mean that they bump uglies at ten or some such, no, just no. What I meant was…how do I do this without spoiling future chapters…just, they sort of declare they are boyfriend and girlfriend and that’s it, somewhere down the line, like years later, they figure out that this involves kissing and stuff. Like the first time they tell this to someone other than each other will involve a crying little girl, Mitsuki losing her shit and Katsuki being a clueless little munchkin. And yes, I’m being vague on purpose.
> 
> **Difference between girl and _girl_ :** Right so, idk if the difference came across properly in the chapter, so here is a (hopefully) better explanation. When they say girl, they mean the gender and when they say _girl_ , they mean specific behaviour.
> 
> **Future plans:** Right so I have decided to combine 2nd and 3rd books, thank you for all your suggestions, I think I have a way of doing it without making it too hectic. I will also remove the time travel parts entirely, I ain’t fuckin with that shit. I will try to make the 5th and 6th books more interesting as I do share your frustration with those books. TBH, the 6th book was the worst one in the series, the only highlight I can think of is Harry sassing the Minister of magic other than that, it was all…meh. I now know where I’m going to finish this story, no worries it is far away in the future. Also, I have lots of stuff planed, this will not be another copy and paste of the books and some of the stuff I have planed will make you hate me :) I look forward to your hate and frustration :)
> 
> **Timeline:** Right so the timeline for quirks is part bullshit part speculation as there’s no actual timeline given, so I’m making up numbers. I wanted something just before Harley was born, so in this fanfic quirks started appearing since 1977 and have been around for about 131 years (that number is based mostly on the number of users of One for All). So, Harley was born in 1980, it is 1984 for her. Katsuki was born in 2104, it is 2108 for him. And they are both 4 years old. But honestly, the timeline isn’t going to be important (probably even mentioned) outside of this one chapter. So don’t worry too much about it.
> 
> **James the Earth hopping wonder:** No. Before you ask, James didn’t have an Earth hopping quirk. Just a regular old wizard I’m afraid. This is just kids being kids and trying to make sense of the situation they are in without having all the facts. Although, that could be a premise of a different HP and BNHA fic, if someone is willing to write it.


End file.
